Remnants
by KageOkami-Kogo
Summary: Gohan, Goku and Vegeta must team up and face remnants of Freeza's Elite Forces that threaten the Earth with an invasion. Will they be able to stop them before it's too late? SEQUEL to Mirai Majin Buu. Gh/Vi, Gk/Cc, Ve/Bu -Discontinued. Read the message on my profile to see why.
1. Prologue

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: Welcome all to the second sequel to Fated! I really hope everyone enjoys this story as much as they did the first two… and I hope it's as successful as them. By the way, you'll notice it says Gohan/Any as the "pairing" - it doesn't mean that he's not with Videl, **it is still a Gohan/Videl fic** - it just means that its not strictly a romance fic; this one will have more action orientated material... though it of course will still have its fair share of fluff and waff! You'll EVEN get to see a bit of Goku/Chichi and, if you're good, Bulma/Vegeta!

I must warn you though - my classes begun in January and I really can't afford to have too many distractions… I need a 4.0 to get into my program and that means studying and writing assignments the whole day, every day, memorizing a whole lot of stuff, etc… hopefully though, and with the proper encouragement, I can keep updating this story pretty regularly. Well then, here we go once again...

ENJOY!

_**IMPORTANT**_: You MUST read "Fated" and "Mirai Majin Buu" before this or you won't get anything!

I should also probably "warn" you that this story has more than one lemon in it lol though I doubt any of you would really mind much XD

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Seven years had passed since Gohan beat Majin Buu, had become the Champion of the World's Martial Arts tournaments and the chief protector of the Earth. Seven years, and the half-Saiyans Pan, Bra, and Goten had all grown into youths full of energy and eagerness to be like their fathers.

In those seven years, Gohan had entered the resurrect World Martial Arts Tournament and took up the title of champion after easily defeating everyone. On his off time from the tournaments he strived to be with his friends and especially his young family as much as he could while also training himself everyday and making sure his friends didn't slack off on their own training. Gohan was a tough teacher to his friends and family but they respected him for it as he did not allow them to weaken over time.

The next World Martial Arts Tournament was being held in a few days and Gohan, along with his family and his father, mother, and brother, were guests to Bulma and Vegeta's home for dinner that evening, so they could all fly to the island the tournament was being held in together.

"OW!" Goten rubbed the sore spot on his head. "Pan you hit too hard!" he protested, but before Pan could apologize she was interrupted by her own giggles as Bra tackled Goten through the air, though none of them could fly quite yet, and into the ground. "Mmuph phum!" Goten's muffled protests where heard.

"Don't drop your guard, Goten…" Bra advised with a grin as she skipped off him. The three had become fast best friends and had been going over to each others houses to play for the past seven years, sparing being their favorite thing to do together. Since they were all half Saiyan, they all had a certain craving for a good fight, though perhaps not as strongly as their fathers. It had not come to a surprise when Vegeta had begun training Bra, refusing to discriminate who should be trained and who shouldn't, despite Bra being female. Maybe it was because Vegeta refused to let "Kakarot's spawn" beat _his _lineage... who knew.

"HEY!" Goten growled and launched at her, sending punches and kicks her way. Bra thanked her lucky stars that she had a father who refused to let any of his kids go without training to be able to withstand Goten's strong attacks and be able to counter nicely.

"Pan! Flank him!" Bra yelled, suddenly worried that Goten would overpower her. Goten, along with his brother, had always shown a potential for hidden powers within him and it was especially obvious when he got too stressed or was too into a sparing session. More than once his father or brother had to dodge a particularly powerful energy blast neither had been expecting from the little but dangerous tyke.

"Got it!" Pan called back and ran at her uncle at top speed, almost as if she were flying. Pan showed signs of becoming a powerful fighter as well, though she was much more in control of her power than Goten seemed to be. The first couple weeks had been a struggle between Videl and Chichi who fought over Pan's future. Chichi didn't want Pan to grow up like her father or grandfather but Videl refused to let Chichi have her way. Videl wanted Pan to have her individuality and choose her future for herself. Eventually, Chichi admitted defeat and let the mother of the child make the decisions. When Goten was born, Chichi had all but given up on her strict "study only" rule and even trained her youngest son a little herself.

"Hey! No fair! We aren't s'posed to team up!" Goten complained but was able to hold back his niece and best friend off pretty well. Meanwhile, Gohan stood next to Goku as they watched the youngsters play-spar in the backyard with amusement.

"You've been giving Pan really good lessons!" Goku observed with a proud smile.

"Goten's not bad either! I'm surprised how those three kids are so powerful at such a young age…" Gohan admitted, smiling as his little brother got dog-piled and half-laugh, half-protest as he was tickled by the merciless girls. It was not entirely known to the adults whether or not Goten let himself be overtaken by the girls so easily on purpose or not but otherwise, he didn't really seemed to complain too much about it anyway.

"Yeah but I think he's a bit soft with them… at least, he is with Bra… I think he _likes _her!" Goku giggled behind his hands, much like a child would do when spreading a rumor. Gohan smiled at his father's antics and wondered what Vegeta would think of another of "Kakarot's brats" crushing on his baby girl. He grinned at the image of steam coming out of the older Saiyan's ears and his face turning red.

"Say… are you planning on signing up for the tournament?" Gohan asked, swallowing an amused but displaced chortle at the very mean image of Vegeta's head exploding from overload and flicked his eyes over to his father. Goku smirked and shook his head at his son's question.

"Not this year. I'm still _healing_ from the last tournament I fought you in, three years ago…" Goku said with much obvious exaggeration.

"Aw, come on, I didn't hit you _that _hard!" Gohan protested.

"Gohan… I was _blind_ for _two hours_…" Goku reminded him dryly, though his eyes still twinkled with amusement.

Gohan laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Ah, well… I guess I did then. Honestly, I thought you could take it! Aren't you sparing with Vegeta and Trunks often nowadays? When I'm not working on Trunks' skills, Bulma says he's with you or Vegeta…" Gohan trailed off.

"Well, yeah, sure, but let's face it, neither are as much competition as you are… if I want to get better I either have to just keep fighting you or find another way to increase my strength…"

"What about the gravity room?" Gohan quipped.

"We're still trying to convince Bulma to make the gravity go over a thousand times earth's gravity… she's worried we'll get ourselves killed…" Goku kicked the dirt with a child-like pout while his eldest laughed next to him.

"GOHAN!" Goten called exasperatedly. Gohan looked up and saw Pan trying to catch her uncle's tail. Bra just sat by watching with amusement. Since the birth of the three children, beginning with Pan, the families had decided to risk letting their children keep their tails, knowing the benefits they got from them - so long as they were in doors before the moon came up, especially on a full moon night. While it wasn't needed if the moon wasn't full, it was a risk no one wanted to take until the figured out a way to control the change. Unfortunately, Vegeta refused to relinquish any information on that, firmly believing it was something every good Saiyan needed to learn on their own.

"What's wrong squirt?" Gohan called back, clearly missing what was bothering his little brother, _on purpose. _Gohan had long since warned his father and sibling about properly training the tails but Goku seemed to have forgotten this and Goten just brushed his brother's warning off.

"Help me! Pan's going to yank my tail again!" The Goku mini-me squealed, batting away his older sibling who was laughing at Goten's terror.

"Goten, if you would have listened to my warnings about training your tail before, then you wouldn't be having this problem," even as Gohan scolded his younger sibling he flew over and scooped his brother and his daughter in his arms. "Pan…" Gohan trailed off in a warning tone.

"Aww… okay… I'm sorry uncle Goten…" Pan crossed her arms and pouted.

Goten sighed and relaxed visibly. "S'okay," Gohan set his little brother down before he set his daughter down, knowing Pan would be mischievous enough to take the chance to grab her uncle's tail the moment she was set loose – most likely Vegeta's influence - this way Goten had a head start. "Thanks big brother!" Goten sighed in relief and ran off.

"Pan," Goku began, sporting his own form of warning tone – though it was still more or less in progress. It seemed to work on her pretty well though for she glanced over to him and gave him a resigned, sheepish look.

"I know, I know, I won't do it again. I promise grandpa," Pan promised, receiving an approving smile from her father and a kiss on her cheek by her grandfather before being released to go play again. Elsewhere Supreme Kai and his servant Kibito stopped their conversation to glance into the heavens nervously.

"Did you feel that?" Supreme Kai asked.

"Yes… should we tell the others?" Kibito suggested, referring to the other Kais and perhaps the guardian, Gohan.

"No. I believe it's too early, it could be anything for all we know. If there really _is_ a problem, I'm sure we will be informed," The Kai elder said, nodding to himself.

"If you say so Master," Kibito responded, confident in the Supreme Kai's wisdom.

Meanwhile, Goku and Gohan took the children in to wait for dinner after they had accidentally blown up a large chunk of Bra's grandmother's garden. While the older woman had waved it away insisting that she had been meaning to replace those plants anyway; the younger Brief female however had given the children _and _the ones who were supposed to have been keeping an eye on them a good verbal lashing.

The nine, Bulma, Vegeta, Bra, Goku, Chichi, Goten, Gohan, Videl, and Pan would all be going to the airport the next morning, meeting up with their friends to watch the tournament. The elder Briefs, Ox-King, and a few of the others including Oolong, Puar, and Chautzu, had declined to go that year.

It was a shame that Trunks could not accompany the friends and family to the tournament for he had been attending Graduate School in Princeton, New Jersey for almost four years already and was due to graduate that winter. He was, however, going to attend the annual reunion party the friends and family all shared at the Brief's enormous home not too long after the tournament.

When dinner was called the group shuffled to the dining table and sat around a vast arrangement of foods. Because there were so many Saiyans at the table that night, it was almost impossible to see over the mountain of food to the other side of the table. This had to be done because of the enormous appetite Saiyans and half-Saiyans alike seemed to have. The children ate almost as much as the adults. Luckily, the food was devoured very quickly by the Saiyans, who seemed to inhale their food anyway, so it became easier to see each other around the table in no time.

When nighttime arrived the respective families bid each other goodnight and split up to go to their own rooms. It was announced that night that there would be a light drizzle, however, when that drizzle became a full-fledged severe thunderstorm and woke two of the three children, it was apparent that the weatherman was full of it. Pan was the one to wake up first. Pan gasped and shot up from her bed as a loud rumble of thunder all but shook the house and flashed wicked lightning across the darkness.

'I-Is papa powering-up?' She thought as she looked around wildly. She shut her eyes tight but felt, when she concentrated, that everyone was still asleep. 'Not everyone…' Pan crawled off her bed and tried tip-toeing her way through the hall to her uncle's room, however, when another mighty thunder sounded and lightning flashed as emphasis, Pan shot through the hall as fast as she could, thankful that she was light-weight and still made little sound as she went.

Pan found Goten sitting up under the blankets and shaking like a leaf. "Goten? Goten!" Pan whispered as she walked over to him, pulling down the covers. It seemed that Goten was trying really hard not to cry but puffed his little chest in front of his niece.

"I'm not scared," he declared bravely, but when the storm mocked him, laughing thunder and flashing its sharp bright teeth as lightning, Goten snatched the covers back and curled back under them. Elsewhere, in that same house Goku blinked awake, the distress from the children waking his senses. He yawned and stretched, careful not to wake Chichi as he gently got off his bed and walked into the hall. Goku could feel that Pan and Goten were awake and very afraid, he walked over to Goten's room and found them there, under the covers and staring into the darkness, flinching when lightning flashed.

"What's wrong you two?" Goku asked softly and was half-surprised when two little bodies of energy collided with him. "Hey, hey…" he soothed, hugging them both and trying to figure out a way to calm them down. While Goten and Pan stuck to Goku, the bigger Saiyan walked with them into the living-room where the fire-place was. He merely pointed a finger at it and with a small spark of energy, it roared into a blaze. He sat with them on a chair and faced the fire, hoping the welcoming crackle of the embers stayed their fear.

Only after sitting there quietly and keeping the children close for a while did they finally calm down enough to speak, at least Goten did. "D-Daddy I'm scared…" Goten whispered in fright; he clung to his father along with his niece, who clung just as tightly but without declaring her own fear.

"Aw, don't be afraid…" Goku said softly, patting his son and his granddaughter on the back. "Do you two want to know why there's so much light and loud noise during a storm?" He asked playfully, knowing a good story might help ease the children.

"Yes..." Goten answered as he and Pan curled themselves in Goku's arms.

"Alright. A long, long time ago – before me, or my grandpa, or his grandpa's grandpa was born, there was a _mighty_ warrior on Earth, and he was known to the people to be the most powerful fighter ever, and had no equal-"

"Was he more powerful than you or papa?" Pan interrupted curiously.

Goku's eyes softened and he smiled tenderly. "Maybe… no one really knows. But what people _did _know then, was that he was ruthless; he was mean - he was a bully! Well, one day another warrior who never showed off or tried to best anyone decided he had enough of the bully's mean habits and wicked ways, so he offered the bully a challenge…

"The challenge was that whoever could beat the other first would have to leave… the problem was that they really were equal in strength and power and could never really defeat the other! So, they fought and fought until their battles carried them into the sky…" Goku paused and smirked, waiting for the children to catch on.

"Grandpa… are you saying that the thunder and lightning is the two warriors fighting in the sky?" Pan asked excitedly though part of her wasn't so sure she should believe him. Goku nodded sagely, trying to look as convincing as possible.

"That's right, Pan… the thunder is the sound of their strikes and the lightning is their Ki going off…" Goku explained with a grin.

"But what about when there is no thunder or lightning?" Goten asked, getting into the tale.

"If there's no thunder or lightning then they're taking a break… if there's one or the other that means one of them is getting tired…" Goku explained.

"Will one of them ever win?" Pan asked with wide eyes as she gazed up into her grandfather's eyes.

"No one knows… they've been at it for thousands and thousands of years… and it doesn't look like they're about to stop anytime soon… but don't worry; they often take long breaks to heal and rest," Goku grinned in victory at the satisfied looks in the kids' faces. Moments later the three looked up to see Bulma walk into the kitchen and heard her moving about and seemed to be preparing something. "She's probably making us cocoa!" Goku whispered happily, receiving excited looks from the kids, glad that they seemed to have forgotten about the storm outside.

"Hey, what's going on?" Gohan whispered from the hall as he emerged wearing a worried expression. He had been awoken sensing distress from the children and felt his father's Ki along with the two kids in the common room.

"Grandpa was telling us about the powerful warriors battling in the sky!" Pan explained excitedly and jumped and gasped when lightning flashed right by the home and thunder rattled them.

"Powerful warriors huh?" Gohan stated with a smirk, having heard the same story from his dad when he was much, much younger. Gohan looked outside and saw buckets of water pelt everything it touched. He glanced in the kitchen and saw Bulma preparing mugs with what smelled like chocolate and decided he would join the little party – they would all have to wake up in two hours anyway.

Bulma eyed the group knowingly as she entered the family room and set mugs of hot chocolate down on the table near them without a word. Goku and Gohan smiled in greeting as Gohan sat down on the couch, catching his daughter who flew into his arms and hid her face against her father's strong chest as another flash of lightning and rumble of thunder shook the atmosphere. "Its okay Pan, I've got you…" Gohan whispered into his daughter's hair as he kissed her head and smoothed her hair.

Not too long after, when everyone was seated and sipping on cocoa, did Videl joined them, having felt an absence in her bed. Videl smiled and smoothed her daughter's hair when Pan attached herself to her leg and walked with her into the kitchen to prepare her morning coffee. "Panny, don't be frightened, you know that nothing will ever harm you when we're all together," Videl said calmly, mixing sugar into her mug while idly caressing her daughter's cheek with her free hand.

As Bulma walked by the kitchen she saw Pan nodded in agreement before her view was obstructed by the hall as she walked toward her and Vegeta's room. When she got there she gasped softly and smiled warmly at the cutest and most unlikely thing she had ever seen, her eyes melted and heart soared at the tender scene. Even though he still held a stern expression in his sleep, Vegeta held Bra tucked in his arms with his chin resting on her head and her little fingers balled up against him, both sleeping soundly. Bra had obviously woken up as well and crept to her father's room. 'That is just SO _cute_! It's too bad I'm going to have to ruin this by waking them… oh well, it can't be helped,' Bulma thought regrettably as she walked over to the side of the bed.

Minutes later everyone, save for Vegeta who was grumbling sleepily in the shower, sat in the living room where sunlight finally began to show through clouds that were breaking up. "How much longer do we have to wait?" Pan asked from between her father and mother on the couch, thankful that the storm was finally over.

"Not long… We have about four hours until our flight leaves, Capsule Corps is an hour away from the airport… so we should leave in two hours." Chichi explained with a yawn, having been woken up by a disgruntled Vegeta. Really, did that man _have _to start yelling so early in the morning?

"We should all get ready to leave then, come on kids – bath time!" Videl announced as she stood and ushered the three groaning kids down the hall. In roughly two hours everyone was bathed, dressed, fed, and ready to leave. Soon the whole group would be reunited once again at the World's Martial Arts Tournament.

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**End A/N**: This was a pretty nice length for a first chapter eh? AWW! Always knew Veggie had a soft spot… of course he probably growled and protested openly when his daughter admitted her fear of the storm to him… but that didn't stop him from comforting her now did it! :D as always, please read and **REVIEW**! I swear it will encourage me to update faster…


	2. Destinations

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: Sorry I took so long to update this story… this chapter was annoying to write lol don't ask why I just found it annoying, that doesn't mean that it won't be good to read though! Shout-outs are now located after the end a/n at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

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Deep in space a fleet of ships drifted quietly toward their pre-set destination, the biggest and most formidable looking vessel held its position in front of the rest, marked with the insignia of the royal Saiyan symbol on either side. Below the royal seal another symbol was painted, the mark of their Lord. This mighty fleet was not only of the Saiyan royal legion, but it was also under the service of their late overlord, _Freeza._

On the flag-ship, a soldier by the name of Cavil, muttered to himself as he sat with his buddies in the mess-hall. "What was that Cavil?" another Saiyan warrior who sat in front of him asked. Cavil glanced over to the end of the table, which was not very far from where he sat to begin with, nervously, because that was where Turk, the General and leader of the Saiyan army, sat. He averted his eyes from his leader and looked back at the man who addressed him.

"I don't know about this mission…" he mentioned softly, so not to let Turk overhear him.

"What are you saying? 'You _scared_? They're just a bunch of weak… uh, weak... wait, what were they called? Oh, oh yeah, they're nothing but a bunch of weak _Humans,_" The other said and laughed with a few eavesdroppers.

"I know that!" Cavil growled, balling his fists at either side of his plate. "But don't you remember _why _we're on this mission? Some bastard, from _that _planet, with "a bunch of weak humans" _killed _Lord_ Freeza,_ and some say orchestrated the destruction of our home planet as well! I dunno about the rest of those "weak humans" but this guy must be a real challenge…" Cavil ignored the nervous sweat the dribbled down his forehead.

"Get a hold of yourself! You call yourself a Saiyan or what? Why are you whining about that so much? It'll be fine! And fun! Just you see!" His "buddy" assured him.

Cavil's frowned deepened. "But what if they-" The soldier did not get a chance to finish, Turk stood from his seat, turned to his subordinate and struck the back of his hand across the other man's jaw.

"That's enough!" The mess-hall had suddenly become completely silent, no one dared to speak or even move, lest they provoke their leader. "I will not have you creating disorder on this ship! Control yourself or you will be thrown in your quarters for the duration of this trip! Got me?" Turk barked.

"Y-Yes Sir!" Cavil agreed, averting his eyes again from his general and staying quiet and still as Turk snorted in satisfaction and sat down. Not another word of complaint or sign that he was still uneasy about the mission was given away from the silent soldier for the rest of the ride to Earth.

Meanwhile, back on said planet, no one knew of the danger that headed their way. Most people by this time of the year were either obliviously carrying on with their lives or preparing for the World's Martial Arts Tournament that was held that day, such as it was for a group of six adults and three children. "Alright, everyone have their tickets?" Chichi asked and mentally counted people and luggage. "Gohan where's yours?" she asked, pausing to look at her son who stood donning a brown leather jacket open to expose a white undershirt over dark blue jeans and brown boots with Pan clinging to his pinky and forefinger of his left hand.

"Right here mom." Gohan pulled his ticket from a pocket of his black leather luggage strapped over his right shoulder. While the women where wearing various dresses, with Videl being the exception, choosing to wear jeans over a skirt or dress, Goku wore his customary orange Gi top and pants with a blue undershirt and boots and Vegeta wore a black muscle shirt, dark blue jeans and black boots who also had his daughter clinging to him.

"Alright… our gate is J17, let's hurry over there!" Chichi said, ushering her youngest son and husband down the hall who had stopped walking and stood in front of a bakery with an identical look of awe and hunger in an identical pose. Sometimes their similarities were just eerie... at least, that's what everyone else thought.

"Right – let's go!" Gohan said, walking alongside Videl so that Pan was between them and clutching either hand of her parents. Two hours later their plane landed on the island where they would be meeting the rest of their friends. Gohan waited with Goku as an impatient passenger stood and rushed into the isles of the plane before they could even unbuckle their belts and stand. Gohan shook his head with a frown toward Pan who was dying to pull the wig off a man's head who sat patiently for the isles to clear in front of her. Pan huffed and sat back in her seat, glancing over to the magazine her mother was reading.

"Gohan…" Bulma whispered behind said Saiyan. Gohan turned and leaned over his seat so he could listen to Bulma's whispered words. "Why don't you make yourself known as the Champ? Maybe they'll move things along faster that way?" She suggested. Gohan smiled and shook his head, not liking the idea of drawing so much attention to himself if he could help it.

"No, there are reasons why there's a wait – its fine, we have plenty of time," he said and sat back in his seat, glancing up at his dad who still stood there with an impatient expression. "Something wrong dad?"

"Ah… yeah… I have to use the bathroom!" The older male whined.

The wait for the plane to unload was roughly thirty _agonizing - _for some – minutes. While Goku sped with Super-Saiyan-like speed to the closest restroom, almost literally disappearing from sight, the rest of the group approached another group waiting for them at the luggage claim. "Yo!" Krillin said, tipping his baseball cap at his old friends.

"Hey guys! Where's Goku?" Yamcha asked looking around them.

"Bathroom," Gohan answered with a smile, shaking offered hands from his friends.

"'Happens every time we fly in a plane. He just can't go _before _the plane ride," Chichi sighed. "I think he'd prefer to fly us himself any day over the "metallic birds" like he calls them," she said, fixing a zipper that got stuck in her youngest son's luggage before he had a chance to whine about it.

"Woo! Made it! That was a close call!" The group turned to see Goku walking toward him with a relieved and happy smile.

"So, how was your flight?" Krillin asked as the large group headed out of the airport after the bigger luggage was grabbed.

"Well let's see, the plane-ride was long, the food sucked, and the in-flight movie was boring… all in all, it was a pretty typical flight," Gohan answered in a drawl.

"As much as it _pains _me to do so, I must agree. I've ridden galactic slugs that moved faster than that contraption!" Vegeta growled.

"Oh my, Vegeta? Agreeing with someone? The world is coming to an end!" Bulma giggled behind her hand, being joined by Chichi.

"Shut it woman!" Vegeta barked.

"Where's Piccolo?" Goku asked when he didn't spot their tall, green friend.

"We met up with him when we got here and he told us he'd be waiting at the entrance to the tournament," Tien answered.

"That certainly sounds like something he would do," Gohan nodded.

"Papa…" Pan pulled on her father's hand. Gohan looked down at his daughter.

"Yeah?" He asked curiously.

"Can we get something to eat?" She asked, her stomach growling as emphasis.

"YEAH! I'm hungry too!" Goten agreed.

"Come to think of it, I'm pretty hungry too," Goku rubbed his own growling stomach thoughtfully.

"You Saiyans are _always _hungry," Krillin muttered under his breath only to be heard and smacked across the shoulder in a friendly way by his oldest friend.

"Come on, don't say that! We're not _all _like that! Bra's not hungry – right Bra?" Goku said, turning to the shorter blue-haired female. Before Bra could open her mouth and answer however, her stomach answered for her, this aroused laughter from most of the group, leaving the Saiyans sputtering and blushing in embarrassment.

Gohan sighed and smiled down at his daughter. "Sure Panny, we'll all get hotdogs when we get to the tournament okay?"

"Three jumbo-size hotdogs?" Pan asked excitedly – like most Saiyans, Pan could eat a truck-load of food and still be hungry three hours later, and then not gain one ounce of fat from it.

"You bet," her father agreed.

The group arrived at the tournament about twenty minutes later, spotting the tall Namek leaning against his favorite tree almost immediately. "Hey Piccolo! We didn't think you'd actually show up!" Goku said happily. Said Namek snorted in response and turned to walk ahead of the group, not answering his old enemy-turned-friend. Goku knew, however, that the main reason Piccolo was there was to support Gohan – having almost raised the boy in Goku's absence for five years, long ago.

"Hm?" One of the men at the sign-up booth glanced up and saw a large group of people pass him without signing up. He was about to tell them that the spectators were to head in through another door but immediately shut up when he saw who the group was. "Good luck Mr. Son!" the man said waving toward Gohan.

"Thank you!" Gohan waved back with a smile and winced in regret as the swarm of media officials located him and began to rush toward them.

"BACK OFF!" Vegeta snapped at them, effectively halting them in their steps and allowing the group to carry on.

"Wow! Thanks Vegeta!" Goku said with a wide grin.

"I didn't do it for any of you clowns – I just hate those leeches," the shorter Saiyan growled.

"You guys aren't signing up?" Gohan asked - ignoring Vegeta - without hiding his disappointment as the group headed down the familiar path to the tournament without stopping to sign up for the tournament itself.

"Sorry bro – not this year. I probably speak for the rest when I say that we want to train more before we fight you," Krillin answered, patting Gohan on the back in a reassuring way. Gohan looked a little downcast but then smiled sadly and nodded in agreement – they needed a lot more training then they had in mind if they wanted to stand a chance against Gohan, who now strove to push himself over his limits every day without killing himself.

"I don't understand why we can't fight with the adults," Pan huffed in annoyance as the group stopped by the booth where the junior division of the tournament had to sign up was held.

"They changed it? What a good idea!" Bulma commented as Goten, Bra and Pan signed up.

"Its no fun! We could beat any of the grown-up fighters with both our arms gone ...and no eyes," Bra agreed. She had her arms crossed and a deep brown furrowing her brows... she almost looked like a female version of Vegeta himself!

"Well, it can't be helped, come on" Gohan said, ushering the kids toward their last destination. After the group checked in at the suites provided for the Champion and his guests, they met together again to plan out what they would do. The flight, the arrangements of the rooms, the spots where Gohan and the group would be observing the matches, and naps chiseled the rest of the afternoon away well into the evening where it was now time to decide where to go for dinner.

The group voted between western food or the buffet across from the VIP hotel they were staying at, in the end the buffet won, since no one wanted to argue with a hungry Saiyan, male _or _female. By the time each Saiyan ate three times their weight, after everyone else had their fill, the group of friends and respective families bid each other goodnight and split up to go to their own room.

While Gohan waited for Videl to tuck Pan in along with Bulma who tucked Bra in the opposite bed, after having kissed his daughter goodnight himself, he ventured over to where Goten was hearing funny stories from when Gohan was his age from Krillin, his roommate. "So he wasn't as brave as he is now?" Goten asked with wide unbelieving eyes – the prospect of his seemingly fearless older brother freezing up during a fight sounding like some bizarre, exaggerated fantasy.

"Well, I didn't say that – he was very brave, being a kid and standing up to bad guys much stronger than he was," Krillin tried explaining. Gohan leaned against the door frame and raised an eyebrow at his old friend. "But there was this one time when-"

"Ehem," Krillin stopped mid-sentence and looked up to see the object of their conversation giving the ex-monk a tolerant look. Gohan knew that his old friend would not miss the opportunity to let his little brother know that his big brother was once a scared little kid who was practically bossed around by his "mommy". "Time for bed Goten – where's mom and dad? They should have been tucking you in by now…"

"Aww – they said I could stay up for five more minutes…"

"Come on sport, its Eleven at night and you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow!" Gohan reminded.

"But I won't even be fighting anyone with a real challenge… well, except for Pan and Bra," Goten whined as he was picked up by his older brother and deposited in one of the beds.

"Listen to your brother, big guy, or you might fall asleep during a critical moment in a match," Krillin enforced.

"Ah okay..." Goten sighed and bit back a yawn, refusing to show "weakness" as Vegeta would put it. Gohan smiled gratefully at Krillin and ruffled his little brother's head before head toward the door.

"And no more _embarrassing _stories!" The older Saiyan tossed over his shoulder before shutting the door behind him.

"Hey son!" Gohan turned to see his father and mother walked down the hall from the lobby.

"What happened?" Gohan asked curiously, everyone else was in their room or tucking someone in.

"Nothing, I wanted to try and convince Piccolo to take a room and sleep in a bed but as he put it "I do not need a 'bed' to rest. They are a needless waste of space," ...well, you know him," Goku explained with a shrug. Gohan laughed and nodded in agreement, remembering the times when Piccolo would be content enough to sleep sitting cross-legged instead of making a bed for himself when he was training him.

"Well, I tucked Goten in if you were headed there," Gohan informed them and bent his head down so his mom didn't have to stand on her toes to kiss his cheek.

"Thank you sweetie," Chichi gushed and he and her husband went over to bid their youngest a goodnight. When Gohan returned to his and Videl's suite, he found her sitting on her side of the bed reading one of the crime and or mystery books she packed. Gohan locked the door and all but jumped on the bed, sprawled with his head on Videl's lap as she absentmindedly dug her fingers in his hair, and caressed his scalp without tearing her eyes from her book.

"Videl?" Said crime-fighter tore her eyes away from her book finally and glanced down at her mate.

"Gohan," Videl answered back, smiling and kissing his forehead. "Are you okay?" she asked. After about two minutes of silence, where Gohan _did not_ snatch the book away, toss it, and in a matter of speaking ravish her senseless – not that Videl would complain too much… she became very curious.

"I…" he paused and chewed on his lip, frowning thoughtfully. "I'm not sure… all week I've been feeling like something bad was going to happen soon. At first I didn't think anything of it but its been nagging at the back of my mind… I can't explain it," he sighed and turned over so he lay on his side. Videl continued to stroke his hair and thought for a moment.

"Whatever it may be, remember that this planet has a large group of powerful warriors to fight whatever comes their way…" Videl leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Be at ease Gohan," she suggested. Gohan turned to her and smiled, temporarily pacified.

"You're right," although Gohan agreed he could not help wondering if whatever danger seemed to be looming ahead in the shadows of uncertainty would be an even bigger threat than Buu… or was it that his mind was always expecting something even more dangerously powerful to suddenly appear? Could his mind just simply be exaggerating the feeling in order to keep him on his toes? Ready for everything and anything? Maybe… for now, it was best to keep his mind on the present and let the future be whatever it will be.

* * *

**End A/N**: Wow… finally finished! You'll notice I have Vegeta say something about "galactic slugs" that is very similar to what he says in the series – point in case – I take no claim for that quote.

Shout-Outs:

**Lourdes-Sunrise-Princess**: You're very welcome! I'm glad you liked it.

**Songoku778**: Thank you! I'm glad you like it! :)


	3. Just Another Tournament

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: Okay… finally some action in this chapter! I'm sorry I took so long to update. I hope you enjoy this! Oh and there's also some Gohan/Videl as well lol - I know _some of you _– you know who you are - were whining err - I mean, _hoping_ - there would be more of that… so here ya go! Enjoy!

_**Warning**_: Mature Content

* * *

The gentle kiss of sunlight shone brightly through the uncovered window, stretching out its rays of gold onto the comfortably cuddled couple in the room. Gohan's eyes fluttered open as he was pulled from the endless river of the dream world, by a gentle shake on his arm. Gohan knew who it was without having to turn his head behind him to see. "Pan?" he whispered, his voice rather gruff with sleep. He turned his head and looked back at his already dressed daughter.

"Papa – you said I should wake you and mama if you slept too long…" The half-Saiyan greeted, kissing her father's cheek and reaching over to do the same to her still sleeping mother.

"Thank you sweetie. What time is it?" Gohan asked with a yawn, smiling softly when Videl groaned – trying to fight to stay asleep some more – and turn over so that her head rested upon her husband's lap, dragging the blankets to cover them from their daughter's innocent view.

"Its almost nine…" Pan trailed off when her father's eyes widened almost to the size of dinner plates.

"NINE!" Gohan shouted in alarm.

"Mm, Gohan? What… what is it?" Videl yawned and blinked awake, noticing her rigid husband and sheepish looking daughter.

"We're going to be SO late!" Gohan whined. "Is everyone awake yet? Start getting them to the tournament if they aren't there already, your mother and I need to get dress, go on," Gohan ordered, watching his daughter nod in affirmative and run off, closing the door behind her.

"Gohan…" another yawn from Videl, "calm down, the tournament starts at ten – we just missed the preliminaries, that's all…"

"That's all? I wanted to see Goten and Pan fight before the tournament!" Gohan groaned, jumping out of bed and rushing from one side of the room to the other. Videl lay on her side with her elbow propped up and her head rested on her palm as she watched her frantic husband with amusement. Almost eight years married to him and he still let the smallest things work him up.

"You'll still be able to see them fight. Come on monkey-boy – we'll share the shower," Videl announced with a suggestive wink, getting up from her bed and latching onto her husband's tail to drag him with her toward the bathroom for some morning fun… and bathing of course…

"Well, when you put _that _way…" Gohan grinned and let his wife guide him. Thankfully, the couple was able to join their friends – who had been dressed and already at the tournament – in well under an hour… even with a bit of distraction in the bathroom.

Unlike other tournaments, at least for Gohan - before he became champion - this one, like a few others before it, required for the champion to sit, wait, and watch the matches until one opponent was left that would challenge his title. Gohan sat with Videl at his designated booth. Where they sat was the same "throne" area where Hercule Satan would sit and observe the matches in the past.

'Ugh, I almost wish the _androids _were here…' Gohan thought miserably. How could watching fights be this boring? Maybe if _he _were doing the fighting...

"Mr. Son? Sir? Are you alright?" Gohan turned to the short balding man with a mustache that addressed him; he was one of the many "servants" the champion of the World Martial Arts Tournament had.

"Oh he's fine, he's just bored," Videl answered for him, patting her husband's knees sympathetically and receiving a mock-tolerant glare. If Gohan was not watching over the city and stopping crime with his dedicated partner at his side he was either training himself or his friends and family. Suffice it to say, the guardian of the Earth usually had something to do so he was never too bored, however, sitting still for more than an hour watching opponents of MUCH lesser power-level than him try to work their way up to attempt to challenge his title was not the most interesting thing in the world to watch. It was no surprise that he would be bored out of his mind. Sitting around just did not sit well with a full-blooded Saiyan.

"Well sir, ma'am, you know you don't _have _to stick around here… we know you have a daughter and brother competing in the junior tournament! Why don't you go watch until you need to meet either winner?" The man Gohan now remembered to be named Phil suggested.

"Great idea Phil! We'll do just that," Gohan answered excitedly and swung his legs over and across the arms of the makeshift throne, and headed toward the other ring to watch the other interests of the day with Videl.

"Look! There they are!" Videl pointed out and she and Gohan sat in their seats at the smaller arena recently built for the junior fighters.

"Next up – Pan Son and Goten Son! How will niece and nephew fare?" The announcer called, waiting for the contestants to walk to the middle of the ring. "Begin!" He yelled.

Almost immediately as the fight was announced Pan's eyes widened and she had to almost throw herself to the floor as Goten's foot went flying mere inches to her face. Goten spun around as Pan crawled away and sprang up, only to have to quickly block a barrage of chops with his forearm. "Come on uncle Goten! You're going to have to try a lot harder than that!" Pan taunted.

The crowed "Ooo-ed" and cheered as the match began explosively. "Oh okay!" Goten responded with a smile and super charged his attacks. Pan's eyes widened once again and she winced every time she blocked one of his punches or kicks. Pan threw a punch toward Goten's sternum, forcing him to back peddle slightly and block with his palm before throwing his own punch at her face.

Pan groaned as she was too slow to stop the lightning quick strike from slamming into her head. She rolled out of the way of kicks, jumping up and sliding her leg under Goten's legs, successfully tripping him and twisting around to slam her elbow into his stomach. Goten caught Pan's arm and pushed her away, using Pan's surprise to punch her in the side, however, Pan was able to block this time.

'Ah! Oh no! I didn't know he was this far ahead of me!' Pan thought forlornly. When Goten struck one particularly hard blow that had her skidding toward the edge of the ring and forcing her to roll over multiple times in fear of becoming a permanent decoration of the ring, she decided things were going way over her head and it was time to think of a new strategy. 'I've got to trick him somehow…'

"Goten look! What's that?"

"Huh? What? Where?" Goten suddenly stopped and looked to where Pan was pointing…

'Oh my God I can't believe he fell for that…' Pan used the opportunity that Goten was distracted to run at him at full speed, effectively running him off the ring and onto the grass below.

"WAH!" Goten fell and winced when he felt pang of pain shoot from his knees up his legs. "Oww…." He muttered and looked up at a relieved looking Pan accusingly. "Hey! No fair! You tricked me!" he said with a frown.

"I'm sorry uncle Goten… but you're too strong. I had to find _some _way to beat you!" Pan explained, smiling guiltily at her young uncle.

"Out of the ring! Pan Son wins!" The announcer declared eliciting cheering and clapping from the audience.

"Good job Pan and Goten!" Gohan called from his booth. 'Goten looks upset… I'll have to see if I can make it up to him later…' he thought. Gohan and Goten, though not at close as they would have been if they weren't so far apart in age, still had a special bond where Goten would look up to his brother and know that he would always be protected by him if their father was not around.

"Sir? Its time for your match sir, the final contestant has defeated his opponent," Phil announced, standing some ways away and glancing nervously at the champion of the WMAT. Gohan smiled at the man, easing his irrational fear and nodded in thanks.

"I'll be right there," he answered. Gohan waved at his daughter and brother and then proceeded to the main arena for his match. 'Its a shame that I never get much of a challenge now-a-days…' Gohan thought slightly regretfully. He smiled at his fans who cheered deafeningly as he stepped onto the ring, seeing his friends and family in the stands from the corner or his eye. 'Oh no…' Gohan bemoaned mentally, watching a man almost three times his size boast about being able to squash Gohan like the "shrimp he is". 'This should be… boring…' he sighed and crossed his arm, waiting for his opponent to stop his Hercule-wannabe poses.

Soon, the silly display ended and Gohan blinked and raised an eyebrow as the colossal man made his way slowly toward him, sporting a malicious grin and the body language that made Gohan wonder if he had ever seen any of his matches. "Hello little man! Ready to lose?" The bigger man stated with a deep chuckle. Gohan crossed his arms and gave him his best 'I am _not_ impressed' expression, effectively receiving the desired reaction as the other man faltered slightly and blinked in confusion.

"Only to someone who deserves the victory," Gohan responded calmly, unable to stop from smirking at the incredulous look in his opponent's eyes.

"Why you little punk! I'm gunna make you eat those words!" The block of muscle with two eyes a nose and a loud mouth snarled.

"Good luck – I have a big appetite," Gohan retorted with another guile smirk. 'Oh God, I've been spending _way_ too much time around Vegeta…' he thought. Consequently, that was the same thought that crossed the mind of several of his friends and family-members that were watching.

"Begin!" The announcer called, stepping back from the ring recognizing now that it was never a good thing to be too close to anyone related to Goku Son when they fought.

"YAAARGH!" The huge beast of a man plowed his way toward an immobile Gohan. "PREPARE FOR PAAAIN!" The man yelled. Gohan shook his head in amusement and brought his fist out toward the oncoming hulk. The man ran right into Gohan's fist and moments later groaned in pain, doubled over.

"Let's get this over with," Gohan muttered and slammed his fist down on the man's head. The man gasped from the sudden impact and collapsed onto the ring, losing consciousness.

"Well… that was _anti-climatic,_" Krillin mused.

"You say that after _every_ final match Krillin!" Yamcha groused, his left brow twitching with annoyance.

"Yeah well, it _is!_ I mean, the guy was expecting there to be more of a fight! He was knocked out and Gohan didn't even have to move too much! Its anti-climatic!"

"Fine, whatever, just use another term next time, alright?"

"Test-E!" Krillin sniggered and ducked from a half-hearted swipe of that taller man's fist.

"No, no thank you - no comment," Gohan pushed his way through a swarm of reporters and cameras who all but attacked him toward his waiting friends and family.

"Please sir! How does it feel to be the world's strongest man and undefeated champion?" One reported asked.

"You're the greatest hero in the world! Do you have anything to say to your fans?" Another asked, this time Gohan turned and smiled slightly.

"Only this - don't let anyone tell you that you can not do something. Try your best and if you don't succeed, know that you at least made the effort. Sometimes, that is just as important as succeeding," he answered then turned and ignored the rest. Once Gohan made it to the "safe zone" or near Vegeta who was well known by the reporters to snap at them and threaten them with bodily harm _at least, _he sighed in relief. Videl grinned and kissed her husband's cheek, rewarding him for once again resisting the temptation to boast like her father had done in the past.

Later that evening, after the group got together for dinner and congratulated Gohan once again for a flawless match and Pan and Goten in their own fight the friends and family split apart to retreat to their rooms. "Mom!" Videl and Gohan heard Pan call before they could step inside their room.

"I'll be right back hun," Videl said and went to see what was bothering their daughter.

Gohan rubbed his neck and sighed tiredly as he entered his and Videl's room, closing the door behind him. He stripped down, after making sure before hand that the curtains of the room were shut and entered the bathroom. Gohan stood with his eyes closed and both his hands on the tiles of the shower wall, his head bent forward so that the soothing hot water ran down his neck and shoulders. 'Long day…' he thought absentmindedly.

"Gohan?" Videl called as she entered their room. She noticed his clothes on the floor and smirked, glancing over at the bathroom door that was slightly ajar. Videl smiled and crept into the bathroom, narrowing her eyes like a predator stalking her prey.

"Come on in, the water's fine…" Gohan said without turning his back.

"Aw man, I wanted to sneak up on you…" Videl complained, pulling her own clothing off and joining her husband who pulled her into his arms immediately. "Gohan, what's wrong?" Videl asked in concern, noticing Gohan's distant expression – he only got those looks in the past when he thought about going out to fight the androids… it was never a good look.

"Its nothing…" Gohan dismissed with a smile.

"You know you can't lie to me Gohan, I know you better than that," Videl said with a narrowed look.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you Videl… its just a feeling I've had…"

"The same feeling from last night?" Gohan frowned and nodded in confirmation. "Do you remember what I told you?" she drew out.

"Yes…" Gohan answered.

Videl smiled and ran her hand through Gohan's hair, caressing his scalp lovingly. "Then stop thinking about it? Let whatever it is show its horns… then you can take them and rip them off!" Videl said. Gohan chuckled and nodded, feeling a little better and leaning down to kiss her.

"Did I tell you lately that I love you?" Gohan asked teasingly. Videl smiled sassily and pushed her finger-tips along his skin, up his back and pressing closer to his rock-hard body.

"No… but you've shown me plenty of times…" She answered. Gohan shivered at the feel of her hands on him and smirked down at her, tightening his arms around her slim body.

"You know just how to make me feel better," he said, bending his head down his latch onto her collar-bone and neck.

"Mmm…I should… I'm… married to you…" Videl said as she made half an effort to keep herself from loosing her senses to Gohan's ministrations. Videl bit her lip and reached one hand down to stroke him leisurely with only just enough pressure to make him tense up and moan. Gohan gasped and had to prop his hand up against the shower wall to steady himself.

Before it became to much for him Gohan growled and took hold of Videl's arms, pushing her forcibly against the wall – not that Videl minded when Gohan took charge – and laid heated kisses along her neck as he sidled in closer, pushing his hands over her bottom slowly to ease her legs apart and wrap around his waist. Videl wrapped her arms around her neck and braced herself for the familiar feeling of Gohan sliding into her.

It didn't take long to work into a comfortable rhythm and soon they were both panting and moaning with each long, smooth stride of their hips. Each movement rippled through their bodies, building tension of forcing them to move just a little faster to cope with it.

The next morning the group would pack up and head back home but for now, the world only consisted of Gohan and Videl locked in their lover's embrace and loosing themselves willingly. Videl arched her head back and let out a silent cry, fisting Gohan's hair as he gave each of her breasts the attention he thought they deserved while moving his body against hers. Gohan moaned as Videl used her propped up position to grind against his solid body; he responded by pushing harder against her and biting her neck hard enough to make her shudder in pleasure but not harm her.

When Videl felt wetness on her skin that was not the water from the shower she looked down to see tears slipping from Gohan's tightly shut eyes. "G-Gohan?" Videl asked, reining in her self-control. Gohan shook his head and looked at her. Videl did not need to ask what was wrong now, she could see it plainly in his eyes… the same fear he had been getting; Videl reached down to cup his cheeks and kiss his worries away.

At times like this Gohan thanked God that he had Videl in his life with whom he would probably not be able to survive without. Maybe she was right… maybe he was worrying about something silly, after all… he was the most powerful being in the universe… at least, that's what every Kai he came across reminded him… so what was he worrying about? At times like this it was best to just shut up and go with the flow.

* * *

**End A/N**: I know Gohan was a wee bit out of character in his match but I love his smug attitude lol. Sorry the lemon was SO short but I didn't actually plan a lemon in this chapter, however, certain friends wouldn't leave me alone about it so I added a little something to appease them lol, at least its something eh?

Shout-Outs:

**Makai Alexa**: *Pats her head reassuringly* there there. Like I told ya – I've never seen the Cooler movies though I SHOULD… As long as you leave a comment every now and then I'll be happy :D

**Shinen no Hikari**: How come? There's nothing to pity – besides him not having Eighteen as his love interest … lol

**Shiva the Sarcastic**: Thanks :D yeah - gee why believe that your oppressive, abusive, just plain mean boss would blow up your planet just cuz he felt like it? No… it must be the other guy! (Sarcastic btw lol)

**Noryale**: WOOO! REVIEW! *glomps* And I'm not an action junkie -_- personally I think I'm bad at it lol


	4. Vegeta's Bad Day

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: Well here it is! Gosh, you folks sure are needy… A bit of action in this chapter. Oh, and for you Trunks lovers, don't worry; I promise he'll show up again soon. Well then, enough said - ENJOY!

WARNING: Vegeta's a total ass in this chapter lol

* * *

The day came when the large group of friends and family where to head home once more. "Has anyone seen Goten?" Chichi asked frantically as she counted heads.

"Gee Chichi, I thought he was with you?" Goku scratched his gravity-defying hair as he too made an effort to look for his son. "Goten?" he called but received no answer.

"GOTEN!" Chichi tried, cupping her hands around her mouth to strengthen the range her voice reached, though it was probably not even necessary. "Goku! I told you to pick him up!" Chichi scolded. "Oh my precious baby boy! Where is he! He's lost! Kidnapped! GOTEN!"

"I have an idea," Pan suggested with a wide grin. "GOTEN THERE ARE COOKIES HERE FOR YOU!" Pan hollered. The group had made it back to the airport an hour early just to avoid these kinds of situations in case their large group – though smaller than the year before – got separated.

"Cookies!" A blur of orange and blue rushed from one of the gates and ran smack into a larger body.

"Got-ya!" Gohan snatched his little brother and perched him on his shoulder. "Where were you squirt?" the older Saiyan asked.

Goten yawned and rubbed his eyes. "I was sleep'n…" another yawn, "I think I ate too much…" the smaller Saiyan admitted.

"That's an understatement," Krillin pointed out.

"At least he was polite to the stewardesses, not like Piccolo who kept glaring and growling at every one of them," Bulma added with a knowing smirk, no longer nervous around the tall Namek.

"I am _never_ flying on one of those... those _things_ again," Piccolo growled, still very much upset that every stewardess in the plane would go up to him and offer him a baggy or ask if he was okay or comment that he was looking _a bit green_.

"Come on you guys, we'll miss our shuttle," Gohan pointed out, balancing his daughter and brother on each shoulder while his father carried their bags.

"But what about my cookies?" Goten asked with a pout. Pan rolled her eyes out of his line of sight but was given a stern "no-no" look from Goku, making her deflate immediately. One thing that was very well imposed in the Son family was respect.

"I'll bake some when we get home sweetie," Chichi answered with a kind smile.

"Ooh! Can I have some grandma?" Pan asked excitedly.

"Of course you can!" Chichi beamed happily at her granddaughter. Even though Pan never missed the opportunity to spar with Bra and learn new techniques that the other girl had learned from her father, she also never missed the opportunity to spend time with her uncle and grandparents.

"Can we stop at grandma and grandpa's, papa?" Pan asked, looking down from her spot on her father's shoulder for approval.

Gohan smiled up at his daughter and nodded. "Sure Panny," He answered affectionately. Suddenly Gohan heard a snort beside him and he turned to see Vegeta giving him a critical look.

"Remember, Gohan, we have a sparring session later today," Vegeta pointed out, glaring at the younger Saiyan. Seven years and Vegeta, Gohan, and Goku had become accustomed to getting together three times a week to train. Most other days Gohan would be training his friends and giving lessons to the kids.

"I didn't forget Vegeta. I'll be there before three o'clock," the younger Saiyan answered dutifully.

"You had better not be late," Vegeta growled softly and walked ahead of the group with Bra trailing behind him.

"I'll take them to mom and dad's Gohan, you go home and take a nap before you beat on Vegeta," Videl whispered, not expecting to be heard, though she wasn't trying to hide her voice all that much.

"HEY! I heard that woman!" Vegeta snapped irritably. "No one is beating _me!_" The flame-haired Saiyan growled.

"Right, no one," Goku answered in mock-seriousness as he and Chichi held in giggles as they passed. Vegeta for his part, kept his mouth shut after this, too angry and insulted to respond to anything else and not wanting to make a fool out of himself by taking the bait.

"Come Bra, we're going home straight away," Vegeta growled, putting an arm around Bulma and extending the other toward his daughter.

"'Kay. Bye Pan! Bye Goten!" Bra called as she was scooped up by her father. Soon the Brief family was gone as soon as the group stepped outside.

"You know, we _could _do the same…" Goku commented, not liking the idea of having to put up with slow shuttles back to town when he could just as well carry three people plus the luggage they had and get back home before the shuttle even began to move.

"I suppose…" Gohan agreed, rubbing his neck and glancing at the others who shrugged with indifference. "Alright… bye guys, see you later," the new guardian of the Earth said after depositing his little brother on his dad's shoulder. He took his luggage and flew off with his family. One by one everyone left, making sure no one was around to see them actually lift into the air and fly off – luckily that airport was never too busy.

Later that day, after Gohan had taken that nap Videl had suggested, he stood at the front door of Capsule Corps adjusting his wrist weight before he knocked. Before he could lift his hand to the door however, the door opened and Bulma led him in. "Good to see you again Gohan, Vegeta's been pacing for hours. Tire him out so he actually sleep tonight, won't you?" the blue-haired woman requested.

"Sure, Bulma," Gohan laughed.

Gohan could tell that Vegeta was still very much furious from all the teasing earlier as it clearly showed in his eyes, his stance and by the fact that Gohan could almost see steam coming from the older Saiyan's ears. "Hey… Vegeta, we were just-" but Gohan could not finish his apology as he was cut off by said older Saiyan powering-up.

"Save it, Gohan!" The Saiyan Prince barked… this was not going to go good. Gohan quickly threw his hands up in defense and caught Vegeta's knee and fist. Soon the two were off – punching, kicking, blocking, and bleeding. Vegeta spat a mouthful of blood that was a result of Gohan punching his face, making him accidentally bite his cheek. "Figures you'd be fighting like a weak-ass sissy like your dead-beat dad…" Vegeta sneered.

Gohan frowned but didn't respond to his taunts. 'He's just angry; he doesn't mean it… what am I saying? Of _course_ he means it!' Gohan thought as he swung his fist forward, watching Vegeta duck, half-pleased when the training that Gohan had instilled in the older Saiyan was paying off.

"You and your dad, but _especially_ your father_, _never had the _balls _to fight like real men – to actually hurt your enemy besides giving them a bloody lip," he spat. "You're always letting them walk all over your lame asses..." he laughed when Gohan's lip curled slightly into a half-snarl but still didn't say anything and continued sparring. Gohan blocked a particularly strong punch toward his lower regions. "Oh, I'm sorry, you'll probably need everything you've got to spawn more useless brats! Its a wonder _anything _can _come _from something so insignificant, hahaha!" Vegeta cackled, blocking a strong punch that had him sliding backwards.

"Oh my! Have I hit a tender nerve?" Vegeta asked mockingly. "Its no wonder your father gave up his pathetic life and kicked the bucket _willingly_ when the androids-" another barely managed block, "-attacked," he went on. "He didn't want to stick around with a whore and a whiny, pathetic, defenseless little whelp!"

"SHUT UP!" Gohan suddenly screamed, unable to contain himself any longer, inadvertently powering up to his latest form. Vegeta's eyes widened and he backed up but was suddenly - though he would never admit it to anyone - too afraid to speak or apologize. Maybe he had gone too far… but he was so frustrated that words just left his mouth without even thinking first. The last thing the Saiyan Prince remembered was a super-powered, glowing fist ramming into his skull before the world went totally black.

Gohan stood with either fist clenched to his side and with his teeth gritted tightly in rage. After a few minutes of seething and trying to rein in his self-control, he forced himself to calm back down. He let his frustration leave in a long exhale, shifting back to his base form and staring guiltily at the bloody, unconscious - but thankfully still alive - Vegeta. "Oh man, I hope this doesn't upset Bra or Bulma too much…" he muttered to himself.

After grabbing the unconscious Saiyan and hauling him to Bulma's lab – aka the infirmary for the Z-Fighters – he turned and gave Bulma, who sported a slightly annoyed look, a sheepish, nervous smile. "I'm really sorry I punched his lights out, you wanted me to tire him out not put him out, I'm sorry…" Gohan apologized guiltily. Bulma waved her hand, dismissing his apology.

"Its alright Gohan, really," She said with a sigh. "Vegeta needs to be reminded that he's not an immortal god now and again anyway, this kind of things mostly hurts his pride than anything else."

That evening, Gohan had come home to find Pan already asleep and Videl glued to the TV. "What's on?" Gohan asked as he plopped himself on the couch right next to Videl, which would have caused said crime-fighter to fall in his lap if she hadn't been used to her husband's bulk already.

"You'll never guess who just won the Nobel Prize!" Videl answered with a wide grin and a curious gleam in her eyes.

"Um… who?" Gohan asked, giving up trying to guess.

"Do you remember Dr. Calvin?"

"How can I forget! He gave me my arm back!" Gohan grinned right back, realization flicking on in his mind like a light switch. "He won?"

"Well, technically yes but he rejected it. They've been playing his speech on the news for a while now – ah! There it is again, listen," Videl turned the volume just a little higher, mindful that Pan was asleep in her room not far from the living room.

"What do you mean he-"

"Shh! Look," Videl cut.

"-But I can not take full credit for this. That is why, I am declining the prize. The real award goes to the hero who inspired me," Videl turned the volume down and looked over to see Gohan's reaction.

"I can't believe it…" Gohan muttered with a smile.

"Yeah, its pretty unbelievable! Such a selfless guy, he was a big help during the android crisis, I'm surprised he didn't receive a medal," Videl agreed, turning the TV off and leaning against her husband's chest. "So tell me, how was _your _afternoon today?" she asked curiously.

"I… kind of got angry at Vegeta during our sparing session…"

"Uh oh, is he still alive?" Videl smirked knowingly.

"Come on, Videl… you know I would never-"

"You really are gullible sometimes," Videl laughed, cutting his affronted explanation off.

"Oh, ha, ha…" Gohan muttered morosely.

"Oh come on, don't sulk, I was only kidding… I know you," Videl craned her neck and kissed his jaw-line. Gohan relaxed and smiled at the woman of his dreams.

Elsewhere, back at Capsule Corps, Bulma stood by Vegeta's side, tending to his head injury. "Is he gunna be okay mom?" Bra asked with concern as she curiously peered down at her unconscious father.

"Yes, he'll be just fine. Don't worry, your father has a very hard head. Oh, Vegeta?" After Gohan had gotten angry and vented on Vegeta, the Saiyan prince was finally waking from being knocked out for almost the entire afternoon.

"Ugh…" Vegeta groaned and blinked awake, wincing from the fading light from the window that made his head ache more. "That damn whelp…" He muttered and winced again when he went to rub the sore spot on his forehead. "Can't take… jokes…" he grunted to himself.

"Aww, did he hit you too hard?" Bulma asked and kissed his head. While in the past Vegeta would have either jerked away or pushed her away, he let her kiss him now, though he still growled when she openly displayed affection toward him.

"Damnit, I don't need your pity woman! And I let him win!" Vegeta snapped. Bulma simply smiled and nodded at him, knowing him well enough that the best way to get him to calm down was to just simply agree with him, besides, when he got his way most of the time, it was easier to manipulate him - as Bra was already rapidly discovering.

"What did you say to upset him so much?" Bulma asked curiously. Vegeta surprised her when he looked at his shoes guiltily. "I see, never mind then," Bulma nodded in understanding. She knew that Vegeta would never admit that he had done something wrong, though he was getting better at the whole "feelings" thing – the guilty look was enough for her, she needed nothing else from him. "I'll go make you some dinner," Bulma said, ignoring the soft growl when she once again kissed his head before leaving.

* * *

**End A/N**: Well there you have it! Poor Vegeta was having a bad day and got on the wrong side of the wrong Saiyan lol.

Shout-Outs:

**Noryale**: He's not getting scared… I wouldn't go that far, but ya he's getting worried :( who knows how many people I'll kill XD

**Makai Alexa**: Short chapter? You call that short? Well jeez alright – you're older and wiser so I guess you know what you're talking about… lol I'll try to make the chapters longer and stuff 'em full of details how 'bout that?

**Noryale AND Makai Alexa**: Wtf you two? Ganging up on me like that… Freaking horny little… alright already! I'll add some more of that "action" you two crave so damn much, jeez… lol

**Shiva the Sarcastic**: Thank you :D I'm glad you liked that lame excuse for a lemon lol

**Shinen no Hikari**: Ah, I see what you mean I suppose… yes, poor guy… T_T

**Lourdes-Sunrise-Princess**: Soon, the antagonists will come soon… I always starts my stories with a bit of normalcy then get into the meat of the fic, just try to be patient :P


	5. Vegeta's Good Day and Flying Lessons

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: This chapter is mostly for those of you Vegeta/Bulma lovers out there :P. You'll notice maybe that I'm flexing my perverted muscles in this one lol, I hope you enjoy it… if it doesn't interest you then you can skip over it I guess… I did it because I promised some Vegeta/Bulma interaction. Also… you'll see another surprise "pairing" in here if you look hard enough, though I wouldn't call them a couple (Vegeta would kill me!) lol… Lemon inspired by: Lori Yates – Touch the Night. Oh, and for you Trunks lovers, he's in this chapter too!

_**WARNING**_: Mature Content – I consider this a "real" lemon compared to the ones I have been writing lately lol… be warned…

* * *

The afternoon of the next day Bulma was busy getting that night's dinner ready so that there was enough time before meal-time so the meat she was preparing marinated enough, when she got a surprise call from her oldest "baby." "Oh hi Trunks! Its so good to hear your voice!"

"Hey mom, yeah sorry I haven't called recently, studying for finals takes a lot out of me – almost as much as sparing with Gohan does!" Trunks smirked.

"That's okay son. So how _are_ your classes at grad. school treating you? Where they everything you imagined?" Bulma asked eagerly, glancing at Vegeta who was currently rummaging through the fridge.

"They were great! And you were right, the classes I've had were a lot easier than I thought they would be!" Trunks said from the other line. Trunks had _not_ decided to continue his schooling because he no longer wanted to do martial-arts, no, it was simply because it was easier to get by well in life if he had his own business without having to depend on his mother. Like his mother and grandmother, Trunks was gifted with quick wit and an intelligent mind, though Vegeta boasted that came from _him_.

"That's wonderful son! Of course it'd be easy! You're my son after all," Bulma heard her son chuckle from the other line and smiled. "So… when are you coming home? You know we have that reunion thing in a few days, will you be able to make it?" Bulma asked eying the meat she had seasoned moments before receiving the call.

"Yeah, definitely. My last break before finals begins tomorrow, I already bought the tickets and should be there the day after tomorrow. Hopefully I won't have complications with customs again," he answered, rolling his eyes at the though of the embarrassment the first few times he flew back and forth from home to USA, of course, all he had to do was show his passport that said who he was anyone who stopped him would apologize immediately for the trouble and let him by without too much trouble.

"Let's hope not. Say, would you like to talk with your f– with Vegeta?" Bulma asked, almost calling Vegeta Trunks' father. Even though Vegeta _was_ Trunks' biological father, both men had agreed seven years ago that Gohan was more _dad_ to Trunks than Vegeta would ever be - even if said Saiyan had softened up toward him considerably with the birth of Bra.

"Sure…" Trunks said after a pause. Bulma smiled and handed the phone to Vegeta who growled in annoyance but accepted the phone anyway.

"What is it boy?" Vegeta barked, earning a kick in the shin and glare from his mate. He growled and corrected himself in a softer tone. "Get into any fights yet?" Vegeta asked, hiding his curiosity in his gruff voice.

"Actually, I have…" Trunks relented. Trunks wasn't telling a lie - he _had_ gotten in a fight with a fellow group member of a martial arts club, who Trunks had beaten in a match. The other was such a sore loser that he began taunting Trunks about how bad his "Sensei", or Master, was and then, well, Trunks lost his patience.

Vegeta blinked in surprise and then smirked. "And? Who won?" asked the Saiyan Prince, knowing the answer but wanting to hear it from the boy himself. He heard Trunks scoff in the background and resisted the urge to grin – surely that would ruin his image!

"I did, _of course,_" Trunks answered swiftly, surprised when he heard Vegeta chuckle – who was unable to hold his amusement back anymore.

"Did you get caught?" Vegeta asked. Trunks blinked in surprise, was the _pride _he heard in Vegeta' voice? No, it couldn't be…

"No way," Trunks answered. If he were having this conversation with Gohan, he would have probably been scolded by now, even though he wasn't a teenager anymore, and the fact that Trunks got into a fight concerning the older Saiyan himself would only further serve to embarrass him.

"Good job then," was the last thing Trunks heard from Vegeta's surprisingly gentle tone before hearing his mother's voice again. Had he just gotten a praise from the most arrogant person he had ever known? From his "father"? Trunks felt a smile tug at his lips despite himself and continued to chat with his mother before she was forced off the phone by her impatient and hungry mate.

"I'm sorry, I have to go – we'll talk later okay son? Bye!" Bulma hung up the phone and glared at Vegeta.

"I'm _hungry,_ woman," Vegeta spat simply, smirking devilishly at her annoyed expression.

"Damnit, Vegeta, I was talking to our son – can't you be a little more patient?" Bulma yelled. Vegeta smirked darker and glanced around to make sure their daughter was not around before he stalked closer to her and snaked his arms around her waist, pressing her body against his.

"Well, what if I told you that I'm hungry for _more than one thing _right now?" He said huskily, leaning closer to her with a feral grin. Bulma flushed and shuddered pleasantly when one of Vegeta's hands slipped down her skirt to fondle her suggestively.

"Oh, um… well…" Vegeta placed his hands on Bulma's hips and pushed his own against hers, trapping her between his muscular body and the counter. "V-Vegeta… Bra could come in and-"

"BRA! GO PLAY WITH THE SON BRATS!" Vegeta ordered without taking his heated eyes from Bulma's or stopping his hands.

"OKAY!" Came the immediate and enthusiastic response from the youngest Brief before the sounds of footsteps were heard followed by a door opening and closing.

"That takes care of that problem…"

Bulma gasped softly when Vegeta promptly grabbed her by the legs and propped her on top of the counter they had been standing near. Vegeta smiled devilishly and laid hot kisses down his mate's neck while unbuttoning her shirt, kissing his way further down. Bulma decided not to fight him with this, after all, it had been almost a week since they had last made love… much too long.

Once Bulma's shirt was open Vegeta pushed his callous hands along her exposed skin until he reached back and unclasped her bra, tossing it to the table behind them, not caring if it landed on anything while he gave her breasts attention with his hungry mouth. "V-Vegeta!" Bulma complained half-heartedly when the bra landed on the salad she had been preparing for that night.

"Its fine!" Vegeta growled, pushing one hand along her thighs and spreading her legs slowly while he used the other to pull his pants open. Bulma flushed and felt her heart beat faster. Once done he pushed Bulma's skirt higher up and pulled her panties off just as slowly.

'Good thing Vegeta's taller than the counter now…' Bulma thought distractedly and swallowed a moan, getting caught off guard when Vegeta pressed his already hard erecting against her teasingly, letting her know that he was _more _than ready and that, that would be her _only _warning.

"Ah- wait!" Bulma said, shivering at his touch and grabbed a kitchen towel, putting it under her and blushing when her mate smirked knowingly.

"I don't even know why you bother… it washes right off anyway…" Vegeta said calmly as he ground himself against her teasingly again, continually rubbing against her increasingly tender sweet-spot. Bulma bit her lip, unwilling to answer him because she knew he was just "making conversation" only to hear her moan out a response… she would not give him that satisfaction! 'So you want to play it that way eh?' Vegeta mused, 'alright… you'll get your punishment, woman…' he thought with a feline-like smirk as he finally pushed into her, waiting long enough for Bulma to become accustomed to him before beginning slow, deliberate thrusts.

Vegeta cupped Bulma's cheek with one hand and kissed her, putting the emotions that he refused to show outwardly into it as he strained to control his leisure movements. As the strain of his efforts to "punish" Bulma became harder to hold back he could feel her squirming against him and moaning in their kiss despite not wanting to show just how profoundly Vegeta affected her.

Vegeta pulled from the kiss long enough to lean further against Bulma, sucking on her neck and forcing her back to hit the counter behind her and knock some cups and plates around as he began to pick up pace. Bulma moaned throatily as she began to feel her relief from the grasp of intensity, unfortunately, Vegeta had other ideas. "Wh-What are you doing?" Bulma screeched, jerking her attention back at Vegeta who grinned at her wolfishly and pulled out just before Bulma could reach her peak, forcing her to ride her approaching climax out mercilessly.

"Nothing, just having a little _fun_…" He answered huskily, though he _too _was feeling the murderous tension. Bulma kept her mouth shut, she would _not _beg him… no, she would not lower herself like that… but good God… she needed him _so bad_ and Vegeta _knew _this and took advantage of it, each time he did this when they made love he expected her to cry out and plead him to continue but each time she surprised him… "Mmm… you're no fun…" he muttered, licking his way from the valley of her breasts back to her mouth and pushed between her legs again.

Vegeta grabbed Bulma's wrists and pushed them against the counter, pinning her and not letting her stimulate herself as he "tortured" her heedlessly. "Oh! ..._GOD!_" Bulma moaned and almost swore she heard her knuckles pop as she gripped her fists tightly in Vegeta's hold, now glad her daughter obeyed her father so readily. Once again as soon as Vegeta felt her begin to tighten around him he pulled out with a half-retrained groan of pleasure and a feral grin. "NO!" Bulma cried, arching her back, Vegeta chuckled and pushed her back against the counter.

"Easy," he said mockingly, "'don't want you to hurt yourself…" he said, though a bit more genuinely this time.

"You… bastard…" Bulma said between her teeth, biting back a whimper.

"Mmm, maybe…" Vegeta laughed, lightly sinking his teeth into Bulma's exposed neck with enough pressure to have her sigh in pleasure but not harm her.

"Do that again and you're not eating dinner, got it?" Bulma warned, digging her fingers in back of Vegeta's tall hair.

"Hmm, I could always eat _you_…" The Saiyan Prince teased, enjoying the blush that spread all over Bulma's face at the suggestion. "Fine, have it your way woman…" Vegeta relented, not wanting to push her far enough that she actually did what she threatened she would do and not feed him. Vegeta smirked and released her wrists to trail one hand up her thigh and tease her throbbing arousal.

"Vegeta!" Bulma half moaned half warned. Said Saiyan Prince laughed darkly once more, this time ignoring her warning and continuing his "fun" with her while working on his own problem with his other hand. Bulma squirmed and panted, shutting her eyes tightly and trying to make herself believe that she _didn't _feel like she was about to explode if Vegeta didn't give her relief and _fast._

Unfortunately, the more she tried to tell herself that she hardly felt his hands tormenting her pleasurably the stronger it became to not moan continually. As much as Bulma wanted to press her legs together to stimulate herself she could not, Vegeta held her legs firmly apart as he worked her raw. Soon it seemed Vegeta was feeling merciful – but most likely he was getting just as impatient - and so he leaned in to kiss her as he squeezed into her and began to thrust once again.

The Saiyan Prince gasped in the kiss as he brought them to their climax rapidly, sending them hurtling into a white-hot state of pleasure, moaning in unison. "Good?" Vegeta asked lustfully, after he and Bulma returned to their senses.

Bulma nodded in agreement, still panting. "Y-Yes…" she confirmed, she was _way _too relieved to bother remembering that he had ignored her warning earlier.

Vegeta smirked and trailed his fingers along her legs again, making her shudder in pleasure and anticipation once more. "Well, I'm not finish with you yet…" he chuckled darkly as he pulled her off the counter and turned her around.

Elsewhere, Gohan stood before Goten, Pan, and Bra after the three begged either he or Goku to teach them to fly. "Sure, we'll teach you," Gohan agreed.

"Go ahead and handle this one son, I want to see how you do," Goku said with a smirk.

Gohan raised an eyebrow but shrugged and turned back to the kids. "Well, I guess I'll teach you kids like I taught Videl… right, so the first thing I need everyone to do is close their eyes," Gohan waited until the three kids did so. "Now, try to find the energy within your bodies, search until you find your Ki, then bring it out," when nothing happened he decided to show them. "Like this," the kids opened their eyes and watched Gohan's demonstration as he summoned a small ball of energy in his hands without releasing it. "Now you try. Bring a ball of Ki into your hands but don't release it," Gohan instructed, absorbing his Ki back into his hands.

The three half-Saiyans nodded and closed their eyes, putting their hands out as Gohan did and attempting to do exactly as he did. "Easy Pan, not so big…" Goku warned. Pan frowned to herself in concentration and nodded.

"GOTEN!" Gohan scolded as he dodged a Ki ball that flew out of his little brother's hands and into a poor, unsuspecting tree, scorching it completely. "Be more careful!" He yelled.

"I-I'm sorry, big brother…" Goten apologized and blushed in embarrassment as the girls giggled at his expense.

Gohan sighed and shook his head dismissively. "Never mind. Just do it over – part of this exercise is _control_, understand?" Gohan said with a disappointed frown. He glared at his father who tried to hide a badly concealed giggle. "What's so funny?" he asked suspiciously.

"Part of the exercise should also be _patience, _son, especially from the teacher," Goku informed, smiling knowingly.

Gohan almost immediately deflated and nodded in agreement. "I know… I'm sorry Goten," Gohan ruffled his baby brother's hair. "I shouldn't have yelled at you – that's _also _lack in control in my part," Gohan smiled when he saw no resentment in his little brother's eyes as younger of the two smiled up at his big brother.

"It's okay, Gohan!" Goten said happily.

"Alright. Now, when everyone is able to control their Ki, pull it back inside you. I know its hard at first to absorb Ki back into you, so if you want, released it _into the sky _and find the energy again within you," Gohan instructed. He was happy to find that all three kids were skilled enough to be able to absorb their energies again, though with much concentration.

"Now, in order to fly you're going to have to force part of your Ki under and around you, feel it lifting you up – remember _you _are not going to be the one flying, but rather the _Ki _will hold you up," Gohan explained. After a few moments, where the kids kept their eyes closed and the adults could feel their Ki steadily rising, they were pleased when the kids began to lift shakily into the air.

"Great job kids!" Goku exclaimed happily with a wide grin of approval.

"Excellent! Now, be careful! Be sure to control that Ki, flying has to feel-" Gohan blinked when the three kids took off, flying around in slow circles. "-natural…" he finished with a pleased smile. He and Goku watched with amusement, ready to catch any of them if they lost control.

"Watch it Bra!" Pan yelled, waving her arms around frantically but luckily regaining control. Unfortunately, Bra was not so lucky… Pan had accidentally pushed Bra too hard, sending her spiraling toward a nearby tree.

"BRA!" But before either adult launched themselves to rescue her, someone beat them to her. Goten had sprang into action, though he too wasn't all that used to flying yet, he caught Bra and slowed them enough to bump into the tree harmlessly.

"Th-Thanks Goten…" Bra blushed. Part of her – the part taught by Vegeta – told her _not _to be happy and yell at him but another part that yelled at Vegeta to shut up, told her it was okay to be happy that he caught her. Oddly enough, those two parts were reminiscent of her parents...

Goten blushed back and scratched the back of his head without letting go. "Aww… it was noth'n…" he said bashfully.

"Good job, squirt!" Gohan praised and Goku nodded in agreement. Bra glanced down at the arms still wrapped securely around her.

"Um… you can let go now, Goten…" Bra said innocently, still blushing. Goten withdrew his arms immediately and his own face flushed harder. He tried to look away nonchalantly but failing miserably.

'Yup, dad was right, they're definitely crushing on each other! I hope Vegeta doesn't find out!' Gohan thought in amusement. "Good job kids! You've learned how to fly!" he said happily and gasped when he was tackled by three pint-sized half-Saiyans. He laughed and stood with each of them hanging off one of his limbs.

"Goten! Pan! Bra! I baked cookies! Come in and get 'em!" Chichi called from inside, smiling as each kid dove into the house, being as careful as they could – fearing the older woman with reason.

"Hey Gohan," Goku said, stopping said Saiyan in his tracks from his way toward the house.

"Yeah dad?" Gohan asked curiously.

"Want to spar, son?" Goku offered excitedly.

Gohan smiled and nodded. "Sure thing dad!" He said and he and Goku backed away from the house some, aware that Chichi still kept her trusty solid-iron frying pan just in case something happened to the house… of course, she had never actually beat anyone with it, _yet _– what kind of wife or mother would she be if she did? - But she had threatened more than once already… it was best not to test her… and prepared to fight. Luckily, nothing blew up this time...

That night, before dinner time, Bra returned home flying all by herself with Gohan not far behind, making sure she did not fall or become tired. Once she had landed safely at Capsule Corps Gohan waved goodbye to her and flew off toward his own home. When Bra entered the house she arched her eyebrow curiously… her parents weren't arguing? That was odd…

When she entered the kitchen she found the kitchen to be spotless – compared to how messy and cluttered it had been before she left, not that she paid too much attention – her father was sitting quietly at the dinner table and her mother was humming to something as she finished preparing supper… yes… something was definitely up. However, Bra would never complain to something like this! Her parents weren't fighting and dinner smelled surprisingly good! This had definitely been a good day… for more than one person… and so the family ate in comfortable silence.

Perhaps tomorrow would be just as good?

* * *

**End A/N**: I think I did better with this lemon eh? XD Vegeta is such an animal…

"NO! WHY'D SHE CUT IT OFF THERE?" - Right? MUAHAHA - I left off the lemon where I did to let your imaginations wander… *evil grin* I'm a teaser and corrupter I know lol. I think I was better at this lemon because it wasn't so innocent… don't ask why that is I'm still trying to figure that out lol. BTW sorry for the many words in _italics _I was just trying to _emphasize_ situations XD

Aww Goten and Bra have a crush on each other :D how cute… lol I promise the antagonists will show up soon but not quite yet… I don't like jumping right into the action because, to me, it seems rushed… there's going to be at least 2 more chapters of "peace" then the real story begins :D

**SEQUEL NOTE**: I'm happy to announce that there will be yet another sequel to Fated after this… making the set a Quadrilogy,not a Trilogy like I originally intended it on being. Why? Well… it will be explained later lol… I already finished the outline for it and everything, all I need to do is finish this story and then I can jump right into the next! I shall remind you folks at the end of this story too ^_^

Shout-Outs:

**Lourdes-Sunrise-Princess**: X_X thanks… I'll see if I can squeeze a bit more brother interaction later lol

**Shiva the Sarcastic**: XD that's very true… good thing he can take a good beating *has a fond memory of Eighteen kicking Vegeta's ass* good times… oh wait, yeah lol I agree.


	6. Reunion

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: Some Trunks-Bra brother-sister moment in this one.

**Warning**: A bit of a suggestive tone in the beginning.

* * *

The first thing Videl woke up to was feeling a light pressure over her body. When she opened her eyes she found her husband gazing down at her with a half-lidded expression. "G-Gohan…" she gasped, feeling him press against her suggestively. Really, sometimes this man was _insatiable_!

"Good morning, Videl…" Gohan greeted, leaning down to kiss his wife's neck softly.

"Uh…" Videl murmured incoherently and turned her head, instinctively giving him more to latch onto. "Gohan… we can't…" she said distractedly. "Gohan…" she bit back a moan when he pressed harder against her, letting her know exactly how much he wanted her.

"Mmm…" Said Saiyan was too busy tracing as many curves on his wife's body as he could get his hands on. Almost eight years of marriage and she could still light a firestorm in his loins by just looking at him. It was much the same for him, it seemed married life only made things worse in that respect, but it was something neither could complain about.

"Gohan, come on, we're going to be late – get off…" Videl said with a blush, feeling his hands trail up her silky nightgown suggestively as he toward over her; she wanted to make love too, but they couldn't be late.

"Uhh…" Gohan groaned in frustration but obeyed her and rolled off onto his side of the bed. Videl smiled affectionately and pat his thigh sympathetically. "Videl… don't do that unless you really want to be _late_…" the Saiyan warned with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Videl shook her head and got up, yanking the covers Gohan so stealthily tried to cover himself with in order to attempt to sleep a bit longer.

"Ah, ah – let's go monkey-boy," Videl laughed, seeing his pleading look.

"Ugh… oh alright…" Gohan sighed and stood from his sprawled position on the bed. It wasn't as if he didn't like going to these reunions, after all, he got to see his friends and family all together at once! It was really nice… but he rarely got to spend much time alone with Videl nowadays. "Can we share the shower at least?" Gohan asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Videl regarded him for a moment before smirking knowingly and shaking her head. "Not this time. Wait your turn and don't you dare try to sneak in here or I will castrate you, understand?" Videl warned.

Gohan blinked and blushed, nodding in agreement. 'Right… like she would ever want to-'

"And don't think I wouldn't either!" Videl called over her shoulder as she walked toward the bathroom.

Gohan blanched, 'Jeez! She can read my thoughts!'

"Damn right I can!" Videl said before closing the door.

"I'm not sure whether to be intrigued or _frightened,_" Gohan muttered under his breath with a smile. No, Videl _could not _really read Gohan's mind, it was just that they had such a strong communion with each other that they knew each other better than anyone else. Ever since Videl found Gohan in such bad shape and nursed him to health, they had such a strong bond that it was almost impossible _not _to know what the other was thinking.

Elsewhere, one hour later, Trunks Briefs stepped out of the cab – not having wanted to flown to not attract _anyone's _attention and sneak back home – and handed the money he owed to the cab driver. "Th-that's okay Mr. Brief! F-Free of charge!" The man said waving his hands dismissively. Oh how Trunks hated taking advantage of people – unlike his time-line counterpart who thrived in it – and placed the money down on the dashboard of the car, giving the man a tolerant look.

"Just take it. If it'll make you feel better, think of it as a gift for your family," the oldest Brief "child" – though he could hardly be called one anymore – drawled.

"Ah – yes sir! Thank you sir!" Trunks turned from the taxi and rolled his eyes, shutting the door and grabbing his bag from the trunk before making his way up to his home. As soon as Trunks opened the door he had a similar experience that Gohan had had when they had returned from New Namek. He had to drop his bags in order to catch his sister who flew at him… wait, flew?

"Trunks! You're home!" Bra said and she ran over to her brother and attempted to knock him over. Trunks smiled and effortlessly caught his baby sister, spinning her around and setting her back down after receiving a kiss on the cheek.

"Welcome home son!" Bulma walked over and hugged her son, giving him her own little kiss on his cheek.

"'Lot of girls kissing my cheeks nowadays…" Trunks mentioned with a mysterious smile, this intrigued his mother greatly.

"Really? Anyone special I should know about?" Bulma asked with a wide grin, by this time Bra had become bored and trailed back to the couch where she was watching a Bruce Lee movie.

"Oh, not really… just some friends I hang around with," Trunks answered with a smirk.

"Hmm... you be sure to take care of yourself around those _friends _of yours okay?" The young man's mother warned.

Trunks laughed and nodded in agreement. "Don't worry mom, I will," he said. "Hey Bra! I brought you something…" he said, setting his bag down on a table and rummaging through it while his sister walked back in with a curious expression. "Ah – here it is," Trunks pulled out wrist weights and set them on the ground gently by her feet. "For you," he said with a smile.

"Wow! These look just like yours and daddy's!" Bra said excitedly.

"Be careful sweetie…" Bulma warned as her daughter went to pick them up.

"Its okay mom, she's strong enough," Trunks responded, watching with a pleased look as his sister struggled a bit but was able to lift them. "From now on I want to see you using these when you spar with someone, okay?" he said.

"Of course!" Bra answered eagerly.

"Bra… you can fly now?" Trunks asked her curiously.

"Yeah! Gohan taught me, Pan and Goten," Bra beamed.

"Well that's good! I remember when I first learned to fly… ugh…" Trunks smiled at the "fond" memory of Gohan forcing the poor Saiyan to fly faster than he was used to, to "be prepared" when he had just learned… and that was _before _Trunks asked the older man to train him.

"I put some clean towels on your bed, son," Bulma said from somewhere in the kitchen.

"Okay! Thanks!" Trunks called back. "Catch you later sis'," he said, walking toward his room with his luggage. As Trunks passed the main entrance and into the actual "home" part of Capsule Corps he dumped into his mother who carried a dirty clothes basket.

"I suppose a college boy like you has some dirty clothes for me, right?" Bulma drawled.

"Ah… yes…" Trunks answered with a impish smile and once again rummaged through his luggage, pulling out a bag of dirty clothes and emptying it in the basket his mother carried.

"Gee, thanks…" Bulma said sarcastically, giving her son a tolerant look before heading back to the laundry room. Even though the Briefs had many butlers, maids, assistants, and servants, Bulma gave them several breaks and days off during their services and took it upon herself to perform the housewife duties herself, especially since she spent most of her time around the house anyway. Maybe it was because she was born rather spoiled in that respect and never really had to do much herself, but she rather enjoyed helping out like that, it made her feel like a real mom.

Trunks blushed and scurried away, half-afraid of his mother's wrath - and with reason! - and into his room. Bulma, like Chichi, had a way with the Saiyan men, even if they were so much stronger and could snap her in two. Trunks sighed and tossed his bag aside, wincing when it landed on his desk and made it groan and crack slightly, 'I forgot to take out my weighted clothes…' he thought and fell onto his bed. 'Long flight…' he thought idly before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

When Trunks woke up, two hours later, he yawned and noticed the towels his mother told him about earlier. He grabbed them and headed straight for the shower – the reunion would be starting now so it gave him only a few minutes to shower before anyone began to wonder where he was. When he had finished he donned a clean pair of clothes and fixed his now short hair.

"Trunks! Can you help me!" Bulma called from the kitchen. Trunks looked himself over one more time in the mirror and jogged back out of his room toward the kitchen.

"What's up mom?"

"Did you have a nice nap? Can you help me take some of those plates outside? The natives are getting hungry…" The blue-haired woman requested.

"Sure mom," Trunks picked up a couple plates, glad that he had taken a job as a waiter in a restaurant called "Applebee's" in America and was able to handle more than two plates with practiced ease. That wasn't to say he would have _too _much difficulty without that "training" though, after all, being a martial-artist as he was gave him a bit not grace and balance. Trunks noticed that all his old friends had already arrived at the party: Goku, Chichi, Goten, Gohan, Videl, Hercule Pan, Krillin, Tien, Chautzu, Yamcha, Puar, Master Roshi, Oolong, and even Piccolo had made it.

Trunks placed the plates down and turned to the guests. "Uh… hey guys!" Trunks waved his hand in greeting and smiled when they all walked over to greet him, not having seen him in the years he had taken to study over seas, save for the times he came to visit such as reunions such as this.

"TRUNKS!" Said Saiyan turned his head and blinked in shock when he was tackled… or at least, attempted to be again – honestly, it was as if they were expecting him to fall over or something! Maybe if he hadn't stopped training like perhaps they thought he would when he was studying he might have. Trunks caught Pan and hugged his "other sister", before she knew it he had lifted her up and placed her on his shoulder.

"Trunks! You made it!" Yamcha greeted, whacking the younger man across the shoulder in a friendly way.

"Welcome home, little brother," Gohan said, walking over to hug the smaller Saiyan as best he could with his daughter on the lavender-haired man's shoulder.

"Glad you could make it Trunks! We missed you at the tournament!" Goku greeted, jogging over with a jovial grin and hugging the younger Saiyan.

"Yeah, I wish I could have been there," Trunks agreed, hugging his "grandpa" back.

"To compete?" Gohan asked with a knowing smirk.

"Yeah right! You guys would pulverize me!" Trunks laughed.

"Naw, you're getting really powerful yourself! I bet you could keep up for quite some time now," Gohan said. Meanwhile, while Trunks was arguing with his old friends and greeting the ones who hadn't had a chance to say hello yet, Pan had persuaded Goten into sparing with her a bit before the food was ready when Bra had declined, too engrossed in a story her mother was telling Chichi about something "embarrassing" that happened to her father.

While Goten tried to put enough into the fight that would be a challenge to Pan, but aware that he could actually hurt her a hold back a bit, he was becoming increasingly frustrated that his niece was holding back most of her power.

"Pan! Are you sure that's as strong as you can get?" Goten asked. To anyone else, he might have sounded like he was taunting his niece, but to those who knew him, they would know that Goten would never do that and was genuinely curious… however… Pan didn't like that sort of question anyway.

"What! O-Of course not!" Pan growled.

"Then stop playing and fight me for real!" Goten said, charging toward her.

"FINE! You asked for it!" Pan snapped, becoming angry and forcing her body to power-up beyond what she had been moments before. Goten recoiled and stopped in mid air when his niece began to glow and wind whipped around her from the force of her Ki. The rest of the guests at the party stopped what they were engrossed in and glanced over at the kids in shock.

"Alright! That's more like it!" Goten said excitedly and mimicked his niece, powering up beyond his base form. Before anyone knew it - except maybe a select few who either knew about this, such as Bra, or that could feel something hidden within the kids, such as the adult Saiyans – they stared at Goten and Pan in shock as the two transformed into Super-Saiyans and began to attack each other again.

"NO!" Chichi bemoaned, covering her eyes with her hand and trying to keep tears from welding in her eyes. "My babies can turn into those savages like their fathers!" she cried, if just a little bit exaggeratedly.

"There, there Chichi," Bulma said, patting her old friend on the shoulder sympathetically. Much to Bulma's surprise Chichi almost immediately calmed down and sighed dejectedly, sniffing a few times and giving her concerned looking husband a reassuring smile.

"Its… fine… I supposed its only natural that they would be able to transform like Goku and Gohan…" Chichi sighed and pat her guilty looking husband on the knee. Goku smiled and kissed his wife's cheek, let it not be said that Goku did not care and not like to show his wife that he did! Chichi giggled and gasped when Goku suddenly pushed against her, making both of them topple off the bench they had been sitting on and landing on the ground. "Goku!"

"Mmm?" Goku responded from somewhere against Chichi's shirt as he lay butterfly kisses on her collar bone and neck, making his wife giggle and flush in embarrassment.

"You animal! Get off!" She said, though she did not sound angry at all.

"You called me a savage, I'm just behaving how you call it!" Goku teased.

"Ugh. Go somewhere more private to do that. Disgusting!" Piccolo growled. Goku looked up at the tall Namek and suddenly grinned.

"Good idea!" The crazy-haired Saiyan retorted, standing and lifting his wife up in his arms as he did so, making her gasp and wrap her arms around his neck to steady herself.

"Goku! No! We need to be here! Its a reunion!" Chichi yelled, even though it was half-hearted.

"Its okay Chichi! This won't take long…" Goku said and wagged his eyebrows up and down as he and a very red Chichi disappeared into the house.

"See? They got to… _have fun_…" Gohan whispered to Videl who promptly smacked him lightly on the stomach and gave his lopsided smile a tolerant look. Nearby Vegeta was still trying to recover from shock after seeing _SEVEN _year olds transform into SUPER-SAIYANS!

"Bra!" Vegeta growled, turning to his youngest and giving her a stern look.

Bra immediately went over to her father and looked up at his curiously. "Yes daddy?" She asked carefully.

"Can _you _become a Super-Saiyan as well?" He asked gruffly.

"Yeah…" Bra answered in an "of course" sort of tone.

"Good. Tomorrow we start training_ for real._ No more soft fighting from me, understand?" The Saiyan Prince said, expecting to see fear in his daughter's eyes… he was, however, very pleased when he saw excitement instead.

"YEAH!" Bra agreed excitedly. Trunks glanced at them and saw the exchange curiously… if he hadn't known better, he could have sworn he saw pride flicker in his father's eyes… but that couldn't be right… right? Oh well…

* * *

**End A/N**: Jeez Gohan… needy much? Aww… Bra's not a bitch in my story as you might have guessed lol though she does still have an attitude ^_^ and she actually likes fighting… unlike GT *shudder* where she's pretty much a typical "stereotype" girl… Go Goku! Lol Poor Gohan… XD

Shout-Outs:

**Shiva the Sarcastic**: Thank you! And yes he does XD

**Lourdes-Sunrise-Princess**: Of course! I'd never leave Trunks out of this time-line! He's a big part of it ^_^

**Makai Alexa**: Thank you for your praises on it T_T 'twas my first V/B lemon lol… yes, I told you I'd make the chapters longer eh? Let's hope I can keep that up though… Sometimes the chapter lengths depend on how much material I have in the summary that I wrote _for _that chapter… damn right your wish was granted lol…


	7. Threat

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: Okay, the real story should be starting soon… sorry I took so long to update... LOTS of stuff happening in this chapter… not to mention I'm trying to study for a big midterm! (That is, when I'm not procrastinating… procrastinators – unite!). Also a bit of Goku/Chichi in this chapter! Enjoy!

In THIS chapter…

'_telepathy'_

'thinking (or talking back to telepath)'

"talking"

* * *

To the dismay of most of the friends and family, two days after Trunks had come home for the week for his break, before his finals and graduation, he had to return to take care of something. It seemed that his roommate had not paid his share of the rent and now Trunks had to fund a new roommate or a new apartment. While it was sad that Trunks had to leave, at least he would be graduating in a little less than two months.

That next day, while Goten was out playing or sparring with pan and Bra, Chichi sat comfortably on her husbands lap on the couch of the living room. "See? Isn't it nice having the house to us again?" Goku asked, his arms secure around his wife, cocooning her in warmth and security.

"Hmm, yes… I suppose it has its merits…" Chichi agreed and leaned into her husband, placing her lips feather lightly on her husband's. Even though Chichi adored having kids in the house, it was nice to be alone with Goku again. It had been so long that they had a peaceful moment like this – Goku always having to run off and save the day… Now chichi felt bad for Videl! However, she guessed that it had to be different for her daughter-in-law since the girl was obviously quite capable of keeping up with the rest of the boys. She had never met a better match for the Son men and felt Gohan was blessed to have met her – and the other way around too of course. Chichi just hoped that Pan's parents didn't one day go too far and leave the poor girl orphaned...

"Chichi? 'You okay? You got all tense…" Goku asked worriedly as he pulled away from the kiss to study his wife. Chichi smiled affectionately and placed her hands gently on either side of her husband's face.

"Don't worry Goku, I'm just fine," she answered sincerely; she _was _fine, she was just an over-worried mother. Goku seemed to relax a bit, he smiled and leaned into her again, kissing her tenderly as he did before. Chichi could remember a time when Goku had thought marriage, kissing, and even _sex_ was some sort of food… Goku thought sex was some kind of fancy dessert, which, now that she thought of it...

"Chichi?" Goku pulled away once again when his wife all of a sudden broke out in hysterical giggles.

"I-I'm sorry Goku! I was just remembering how you were when we were much younger. Honestly, thinking intimacy was some kind of food…" She laughed.

"Oh yeah…" Goku smiled thoughtfully. "Well, keep in mind I was very sheltered back then…" her Saiyan husband reminded her.

"I'll say!" Chichi giggled.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be, huh? You know I'm against it but I will punish you if you make me!" Goku teased, leaning toward her again, waiting for her to close the gap, which she did readily. Chichi shivered pleasantly, feeling her husband's rough hands slipping under her shirt as his tongue pushed into her mouth. Their tongues battled for supremacy, neither willing to surrender to the other. Unfortunately… just as the kiss was becoming more heated to the point where the couple began to feel dizzy, a familiar voice spoke to Goku…

_'Goku!' _The familiar voice of King Kai called.

"Wha!" Goku fell off the couch from the abrupt and very loud voice in his head.

Chichi gasped and looked down at her husband who was rubbing his back. "Goku are you okay?" she asked in concern.

"Ow… Yeah, sorry, I'm fine… King Kai is talking to me," he answered from the floor.

"Ah, I see," Chichi helped Goku back onto the couch and sat patiently.

'_Am I interrupting something?' _King Kai asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Goku frowned and huffed, oh yeah, he was interrupting… a chance to be alone with his wife for more than an hour and possibly remind her how passionately he loved her… 'Yes King Kai, yes you are…' Goku answered crossly.

Chichi sat tolerantly as Goku had a conversation with the elusive deity. She knew enough about the whole thing to know it was not fake, to know Goku was not going crazy and talking to himself, and so, she sat patiently and awaited the news that was sure to come.

'_Well, I'm sorry but this can not wait! I was informed by the other Kais of a threat to Earth. I suggest you get your son, Trunks and maybe that other one, Vegeta, and stop this threat before Earth is lost!' _King Kai warned gravely.

'Well… it'll be kind of hard to get Trunks to help but… What… is the problem exactly?' Goku squirmed in his seat, having a feeling this would be _bad._

'_There is a huge Saiyan army, still loyal to Freeza, headed directly to the Earth! They think that someone on Earth is responsible for the death of Freeza and the destruction of the planet and are coming to exact revenge!' _King Kai explained.

'Y-You're kidding!' Goku didn't know whether to be horrified or excited at the prospect of some excitement to the now – in his opinion - entirely too peaceful times on Earth.

"Goku? Is everything okay?" Chichi asked worriedly when Goku got a curious expression on his face.

"Everything's fine Chichi, no need to worry, but I'm sorry, I have to go take care of something," Goku said, not wanting to startle his wife with the bad news.

Chichi sighed in defeat. "Its alright Goku," she said, releasing her husband reluctantly. "Go on, do what you have to do."

"Aww, don't worry, Chichi, I'll be back soon!" Goku kissed his wife's cheek and jump out of the couch, running out of the house and into the air.

"Well… there he goes again," Chichi shook her head sadly. Meanwhile, Goku was headed directly toward his eldest son's house, intending on doing exactly as King Kai had suggested. Gohan had been busily and happily training his and Videl's daughter to contain her Ki so that she could hide from any kind of threat when he heard a knock on the door.

"One sec," Gohan said, walking over to the entrance of their nice-sized home from the attached dojo. When he opened the door he was surprised to find his father standing there with an anxious expression. "Hey dad! What's up?" Gohan asked curiously as Videl and Pan walked over to investigate.

"I kinda need to speak to you in private…" Goku said cryptically.

"Uh, okay… I'll be right back Pan, can you take over Videl?" Gohan kissed his wife's cheek who nodded in agreement and headed outside with his father while Videl took over training their daughter back at the dojo.

Once Goku was certain that the girls would be too busy to hear them speak he announced his reason for his sudden visit. "King Kai spoke to me not long ago, he told me that there is a pretty large army of Saiyans, loyal to Freeza, headed toward Earth to take revenge on us," he explained.

"What?" Gohan gasped.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. They think we killed Freeza and destroyed planet Vegeta," Goku frowned.

"Okay, wow, jeez… what do you suppose we should do?" Gohan asked, feeling a shiver run down his spine… could this be the fear he had been feeling before?

"I'm not sure, we'll have to wait until they arrive I guess…" Goku shrugged and crossed his arms.

"We could go into space and meet them there?" Gohan suggested, even if it _was_ the uneasy feeling he had a bunch of Saiyans, unless they were as powerful as his dad or Vegeta, were hardly anything to worry about… he hoped.

"Ah, no… that'll alert too many people…" Goku countered.

"Right, like a huge armada of space aliens arriving on Earth to conquer it by force or destroy it won't alert a few people at all…" Gohan said sarcastically.

Goku frowned thoughtfully and rubbed his neck. "Still, there must be another way…" he said, though a good idea eluded him.

"Wait…" Gohan said. "I may have an idea, I'm not sure if Vegeta will like it though…" he trailed off, slightly unsure of his idea.

"What is it?" Goku asked curiously.

"Why don't we tell our friends and families we're going camping or something for a little while? So they won't suspect something when we deal with the Saiyans?" Gohan suggested. "I know camping seems odd, especially when Vegeta's concerned, but…"

"No, no, I think it's a good idea son! But… it could work on those who don't know how to sense Ki but what about those who can?"

"Well, we'll tell them not to worry and that we have it covered?" Gohan suggested.

"I'm not sure that they'll go for that, but I supposed it's worth trying," Goku sighed.

"Great! Let's go tell Vegeta then, hopefully he won't blow up in our faces... too much…"

Now, Vegeta considered himself a patient man, an honorable man, a good man, but when he was faced by two "idiots" who proposed a – in his opinion - vastly ludicrous idea after being told of an imminent invasion to Earth, he almost snapped in two! Like _hell_ he would go with _that _plan. "No! I refuse to go along with your ridiculous ideas! Leave me out of this!" Vegeta barked, crossing his arms and turning from the two men in defiance.

"Aww, come on Vegeta! We could really use your help!" Goku pleaded but with no results.

"Just leave him, dad… he's too _afraid_ to help, he's too _weak,_" Gohan said, smirking knowingly when his reverse psychology seemed to work on the shorter Saiyan. Vegeta whirled around with a murderous look in his eyes.

"How _dare _you speak that way to me!" Vegeta snapped, feeling his pride wounded by such a comment, "Fine! I'll do it," the Saiyan Prince growled – he had to keep his image after all, Gohan challenged his pride by saying that, he would have to prove him wrong.

"Thanks Vegeta," Gohan said with a wink at his father who was still surprised that Gohan could convince the stubborn man so easily.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Vegeta snorted and walked back toward the Gravity room.

"Vegeta? What did Goku and Gohan want?" Bulma asked about an hour later, after Vegeta returned from his training session in the gravity room.

"It seems that we're going… camping… next week…"

"Camping? Why?"

"How the hell should I know?" Vegeta muttered, frustrated by the thought he had say such a ridiculous lie.

"Oh… I see… okay…" Bulma shrugged and dished out the food.

The morning of the next day Vegeta stood in the shower debating whether it could work to his advantage if the Saiyans recognized him… or it could be very bad. Vegeta wiped the steam covered mirror and stared at himself thoughtfully. 'Would I have less trouble being recognized if I cut my hair?' He wondered. 'Worth a shot, I've been meaning to cut it anyway.' Vegeta wasted no time heading toward the barber shop, grunting something or other to Bulma on his way out. "I want it cut short," Vegeta ordered the hairdresser.

"Would you like it in layers or-"

"Just cut the damn hair!" And so the hair was cut…

Not two hours after Vegeta had gone to cut his hair he came back and surprised his wife. Bulma blinked at the sight of her mate. "Well, well now, don't you look especially sharp today hun!" She said with a suggestive grin. Vegeta ran his hand through his now short, spiked hair and smirked at Bulma.

"Why thank you," he said gruffly and snaked his arm around her waist, leaning in to capture her lips with his in a hungry kiss. "Your reward," Vegeta growled against her lips as he pulled away and grinned just as suggestively as Bulma had just moments earlier.

"Daddy!" Bra ran into the kitchen and attached herself to her father's leg. "Why do you have to go next week?" the seven year old asked with a huff, hiding her sadness by covering it with irritation, much like her father would. Even though Vegeta did not display his affection openly to his children, especially to Trunks, Bra could tell just by simple gestures that her father did care for her.

"You know very well why. Like I said, Kakarot, myself and Kakarot's brat are going… _camping_. I don't know when we'll be back, maybe the next day, so don't ask," Vegeta barked, spitting out the lame excuse Gohan had suggested they use to their families.

"I think its a great idea that you three go out and bond like that," Bulma commented, taking a sip of her coffee after sitting down at the table.

"Who asked you what you thought?" Vegeta barked and stormed out of the kitchen, gently trying to detach his daughter from his pant-leg as he walked out.

"SOMEone's certainly grumpy today…" Chichi observed as she walked in.

"Chichi! You made it! I thought I would be all alone since Bra is spending more and more time with Pan and _Goten_…" Bulma said the last name in amusement, walking over to hug her best friend and help her set the grocery bags down.

"Of course! Once Videl arrives we can get this party started!" Chichi said with a grin, excited about their girl's night and trying to ignore what Bulma suggested about Goten and Bra… her son was _way _too young to have a crush… right?

Elsewhere, Vegeta had arrived at the predetermined spot where the plan to get away from the friends and family was to be discussed. "Oh, hey Vegeta we were just… you cut your hair?" Gohan asked curiously.

"No, it fell off on its own - OF COURSE I cut my hair!" Vegeta barked, blushing in embarrassment.

"Ah – I see… well… um, it looks nice?" Gohan blinked.

Vegeta scoffed and crossed his arms, glaring at the two other Saiyans disdainfully. "Let's just get this over with," Vegeta sighed tiredly. 'Sometimes I wish we had just ignored Raditz' mindless babble and never came to this godforsaken planet…' he thought ruefully.

"Right, anyway, in the next couple days let's meet up here and discuss our plans to preventing the invasion…" Gohan said. Luckily the three had found a spot where they could sit and talk and not have to worry about anyone hearing them. In the next week the three would come up with a plan to protect the earth… but how could they possibly know what they were up against? The "invaders" were still too far away for them to be able to detect their power-levels, even by Gohan, so they would just have to sit and wait… like before, only time would tell.

* * *

**End A/N**: You'll notice that Goku is not a prick in my stories… I like Goku, or at least I did before Buu Saga… so I wanted to keep my fond memories of him, thus writing him as the kind, self-sacrificing father and honorable warrior that he should be! Gohan may be my favorite character, but Goku is still important to me!

Shout-Outs:

**Shiva the Sarcastic**: LOL no… I just wanted to show that they may be Saiyans but they're also very male… I didn't mean it to sound like they're all really horny and such XD ehem, mind the beginning of this chapter lol I had to put in some more gk/cc stuff cuz I promised I would X_X

**Lourdes-Sunrise-Princess**: Thanks lol, action will come soon…

**Makai Alexa**: XD Now, now… let's not be hasty! A good story doesn't jump into the main stuff right at once XD lol soon, it shall come soon…

**Jakeub**: Ahahaha! You're sick man XD no… none of that… yes you'll have to wait like the rest of them ^_^ sorry I made you wait so long… I had no motivation to update X_X I still don't… lol oh well, let's see how things go eh?


	8. Distractions

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: Sorry for the long wait… I'm so bad, I got carried away with other things. For those of you who haven't noticed, shout-outs and answers to questions will be posted on the very bottom of the story, under the end a/n. To make up for SUCH a long wait, I decided to add another lemon here! This is the last lemon of the story that I had planned out so don't bother begging for another lol. I'm sorry if it sucks... I'm a little out of practice. 'Hope you enjoy!

**Know this**: I am basing this Gohan on the TV special, NOT in the version you see in the series! This Gohan is _different_, if you've seen the special then you'd understand. He's a warrior, not a scholar. If you haven't seen it, then I don't understand why you're even reading this story! Go watch it! Now!

_**WARNING**_: Mature Content Ahead.

* * *

The week crawled by slowly, as if mocking them, reminding them they only had so much time until the impending danger was upon them. As promised, Vegeta had attended the "ridiculous" meetings that Gohan and Goku had set up - discussing the plans they came up with dealing with the invasion of Saiyans that they _still _didn't know too much about.

Vegeta stood before Gohan and Goku, giving them an exasperated look. "And you still can't sense their power-levels?" he questioned as he tapped his foot impatiently on the ground, ignoring the small vibrations the floor made by the mere gesture.

"Well, I _can_… but its like they're masking their power levels or something. I thought you guys didn't know how to do that too well? But it feels... muffled," Gohan muttered, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"I felt that too," Goku nodded in agreement. "Maybe they know how to since they're "elite"..." he offered.

"Maybe..." Gohan frowned.

"Not like I'm not having the time of my life here, but I'm leaving. We're going to do that ridiculous "camping" thing tomorrow again and I want sleep before then," Vegeta spat as he got up and let himself out.

"Someone's certainly grouchy today!" Gohan frowned at the door Vegeta unceremoniously kicked open. The door swung a bit before snapping and wilting over one hinge.

"Maybe he wants to spend some time with Bulma?" Goku suggested, noticing the edginess in his son's voice. "Are _you _okay son?" he asked.

"Yeah… I'm fine," Gohan answered, rubbing his neck and resisting the not exactly intelligent urge to glare directly at the sun as it beat down mercilessly on everyone that day. "I'm just a bit hot," he admitted, his thoughts turning toward Videl and his unsuccessful attempt to coax her to stay in bed with him a little longer that morning – she chose the call for help from the Mayor from the phone call that awoke them that morning over him...

"Is that all?" Goku question, a feline like smile spread across his lips.

"Yes, dad, _that's all_," Gohan forced, refusing to let his father know the _other _reasons he was tense. It was just… _embarrassing_ talking with his dad about that sort of thing.

"Whatever you say Gohan," Goku all but giggled and got up from his seat. "I'm going to go check on Master Roshi, 'wanna come?" He asked curiously, watching his son grab his stuff as well.

"No, that's okay, but can you tell him I said hello? I need to meet up with Yamcha and Tien – they wanted me to show them how I did that technique I told you about yesterday…"

"Oh yeah, sure, I'll tell him. See you later son!" Goku placed two fingers on his temple and before Gohan could blink his father vanished.

'I've _got _to learn how to do that…' Gohan mused as he took off into the air, wincing as the explosion behind him graced his ears as he broke the sound barrier. 'Well, maybe I don't really need to right now…' he chuckled inwardly as he headed out. Teaching Yamcha and Tien that little move shouldn't take too long, then, after that, Gohan wanted to go home, kick back, and maybe read a book to distract himself from what was _bothering _him.

Meanwhile, a few hours after dropping Pan off at school, Videl Satan Son flew around, looking for trouble to fix. While normally she would be in her helicopter or flying with Gohan, she decided she needed to "stretch her wings" a bit. "Hmm, what have we here?" Videl thought aloud as she flew over the city. Below her, near a bank, stood two men in black loading bags into a truck. Nearby another, armored, truck lay on its side and a few people were tide up near it. "Looks like a couple of crooks up to no good again..." Videl sighed and flew down, hiding behind some cover to not alert them of her presence just yet.

"Come on, hurry it up! Load that money onto the truck already!" the bigger man of the two ordered, pointing his machine guns toward the cowering people he had tied up. 'These guys were a joke! They call themselves security guards? Pah!'

"But, boss! Its heavy! Why don't you help?" the smaller man whined, heaving another bag-full of money into their pick-up truck.

"Shaadaap!" The bigger man whacked the smaller on over the head. "Get busy! Hurry before the the "enforcers" show up!"

'I guess that's my cue!' Videl thought, jumping over the car she had been spying on them behind. "By enforcers I suppose you mean _me, _right?" she mocked, her hands on either side of her hips and her brow customary sneer.

The men whirled around and gaped at the intruder. "Oh no! Its Videl Satan! Come on! Let's get outta here!" they _tried _to get into their truck, but they didn't count of how fast Videl was.

"Oh no you don't!" Videl snapped, appearing next to the truck in a blink and kicking it lightly, forcing it to roll on its side.

"What the? How'd she do that?"

"Nevermind! Shoot her! Shoot her!" the boss growled, emptying in gun in Videl's directly but seemingly off-target.

"N-No way, boss! She's unstoppable!" the other man studdered, backing up in terror.

"Gimme that!" the bigger man snapped, snatching his lacky's guns and firing them. "YAAARRGHHH!"

"Is that all you've got?" Videl taunted with a badass smirk. 'I can't believe there are only two of them!' she thought in amusement. "This'll teach you scum not to break the law!"

"DIIIEEE!" The boss of the menacing duo screamed, letting his weapons speak for him. Videl thanked her lucky stars she had had all that training with Gohan to be able to dodge each bullet so easily. "What are you?" the beefy man yelled, sweat pouring down his face both in fear and effort.

"Justice!" Videl answered, appearing behind the man and slamming her fist against the back of his skull. With a mighty thud, the man fell to the floor and Videl was able to kick the weapon out of his hands. After cuffing him quickly, she turned to the man's side-kick who still stood there paralyzed with fear. "Don't make me go over there and kick your ass. Come here, NOW," Videl commanded. The man jumped and quickly made his way over to her, too afraid for his life to disobey.

By the time the police arrived, Videl had cuffed both men and returned the stolen goods to their owners. "Thank God you were here, Ms. Videl!" the chief beamed.

"All in a day's work," Videl shrugged. "Take 'em away, boys!"

"You heard the lady, hop to it, men!" the chief ordered.

While the men were man-handling the would-be-bandits, Videl noticed some of them had their eyes on her. While normally this kind of attention would get her angry enough to snap at the men, it surprisingly had the opposite affect on her and she couldn't help her thoughts from wandering to her husband. 'Maybe a few minutes of fun wouldn't have hurt this morning...' she thought regretfully, catching on of them looking at her legs lustfully. Videl made a show of glaring at the man, making him jump and avert his eye quickly. 'Maybe its not too late...' she thought. 'There's still a few hours before Pan finishes school,' with that thought in mind, Videl took off toward home, hoping Gohan was there.

Gohan had only returned from Yamcha's place a few minutes ago. He was surprised when he found Videl coming in moments later, the strange look in her eyes piquing his interest. He watched her as she drew closer, dodging the coffee-table and standing before him. Gohan raised an eyebrow and watched as she leaned over a little and ran her hands up his thighs, pushing his legs apart so she could fit between them. "What are you doing?" he asked, not noticing he had growled the question and wondering why her eyes suddenly darkened.

"Are you busy?" she asked him, in a obviously-mock innocent tone, clearly ignoring the book still in his right hand.

"No," he answered her quickly, tossing the book aside in favor of pulling his wife up and onto his lap until she sat astride. In seconds their mouths were upon each others, the heated kiss sparked further needs to touch, taste and experience. The passion they felt for each other over-rode their control and clothes were torn off – almost literally – and eager hands searched and caressed each other. Before they knew it, they were completely naked but in the same position as before, Videl seated over Gohan's knees.

"I'm sorry I didn't give you proper attention this morning," Videl apologized, leaning in to kiss her husband in a more gentle way while one of her hands slipped down his chiseled chest and over his stomach.

"That's okay Videl! I understand there was more imporTANT th-things to... uh... do..." Gohan's words failed him as Videl's hand found its target. Videl smiled devilishly as she caressed him in an achingly teasing way. "Uh... V-Videl..." Gohan grit his teeth and he strained to keep himself from grabbing her and relieving himself all at once... he preferred it when they _both _found pleasure in each other.

"Yes, dear?" Videl asked in that same mock-innocent tone.

"Grrr..." Gohan growled while his wife bat her eyelashes at him. Gohan felt both relief and disappointment when Videl removed her hand but didn't have time to say or do anything. Videl leaned in and kissed him again before scooting up his lap. Gohan rested his hands on her hips, helping her lift up easier and then brought her down, sheathing himself within her. A mutual sigh of relief and content escaped their lips as they joined together, moving in a harmonious rhythm.

The day's stresses and attack from the unbearable heat only seemed to fuel them further and soon the perfect rhythm was lost to need. If the two were humans, they might have broken a bone or two from the ferocity in their enthusiasm. As soon as Videl cried out, being the first to reach her relief, Gohan growled and pitched forward, pushing them until they fell upon the coffee-table in front of the couch. The coffee-table creaked and groaned under the weight and stress of the lovers.

Videl's fingers tightened over Gohan's vast, bronzed shoulders – bronzed from many years of fighting out in the sun – as she felt another tidal-wave of pleasure threatening to push her over the edge again... this time, she wanted to join Gohan. She gasped and bucked against him as she felt her husband nearing his climax, the effort he put in in thrusts crushing the poor coffee-table below them, but neither cared at the moment. The couple cried out in unison as their pleasures reached their edges and were driven beyond.

"Wow... that's a... really sturdy piece of... furniture!" Gohan mused, still panting from the "activity".

"I'll say! I'm surprised it didn't... break!" Unfortunately, as soon as Videl said that, they heard a load snap and down they went. If Videl was a normal human, that might have hurt her... instead, it just gave her a reason to give Gohan an annoyed look. "Next time, stick to... doing this... on the bed, okay?" she asked, sighing in defeat.

"Great idea, Videl!" Gohan grinned, scooping his wife up and stalking toward their room, making sure to kick their clothes over with him.

"Wow, don't I satisfy you at all?" Videl asked in mock-hurt.

"Of course you do! But that doesn't mean I've had my fill just yet..." Gohan returned with a cheeky smile.

"Oh, so I'm just something you use and then be done with, is that it?" Videl asked teasingly.

"Ha ha, you know I'd never think of you that way, besides, don't tell me _you're _done..."

"Hell no!" Videl quickly retorted.

"That's what I thought..." Gohan smirked, the door closing behind him. The couple spent the rest of the day in bed, only going out of the room to eat or use the bathroom. When they were finally spent, they spent a good while in the shower together as well, though mostly just enjoying the water and cleansing themselves than anything else. While Gohan still seemed to have endless stamina, they were content to stop after some hours. When Pan returned home, she was a little curious to find her father happier than usual – which was quite a feat – and her mother looking pretty tired... she shrugged and joined them on the couch to watch some TV. The couch smelled strangely soapy...

The next day, Gohan, Goku, and Vegeta were already planning out what they would do in the thankfully empty home-section of Capsule Corps, when they felt pretty decent power-levels near the Earth. "Looks like they're here..." Goku muttered, glaring out the window, toward the horizon.

"Do you think they're still hiding their power-levels?" Gohan asked.

"Probably, if so, there's no telling how strong they are..." Goku answered grimly.

"I doubt they'll be any match for us!" Vegeta boasted.

"I asked Bulma to make us some Saiyan armor to "train" in this morning... it looks a bit like I remember Raditz looking... kinda dark in color," Gohan mentioned, pulling out a capsule from his pocket. After he pressed the button, he threw it before them and in a few seconds, the capsule transformed into a crate. "You warned the rest about the invaders, right?" he asked his father.

"Yeah, Piccolo was a little hard to convince to stay put though..." Goku answered. Gohan nodded and pulled out the armor, handing it out.

"This is utterly pointless! Why don't we just go in and kill them all?" Vegeta growled impatiently.

"We don't know how many are down here and how many are still in space! There's more than one ship, remember?" Goku answered, stepping in front of his "old friend" to keep him from just launching head-first into battle, as was his custom.

"Ugh, fine, whatever, just hurry up and get dressed already!" the shorter man snapped.

Goku shrugged and began to head over to change, but stopped when he noticed the tense look in his son's face. "Hey, you okay son?" he asked in concern.

Gohan turned to him, blinking back to reality and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just eager to get this over with, that's all..."

Goku nodded in understanding. "So did you get any rest yesterday?" Goku asked Gohan curiously.

For the life of him, Gohan simply could not stop the blush from coloring his cheeks. "Uh, yeah, dad... I got good rest, sure..." the younger Saiyan remarked. Gohan ignored the snort of amusement from Vegeta. "Maybe you should go on and put the armor on?" he suggested.

"Heh, alright son... be out in a jiffy!" the older man said and nearly skipped over to the bathroom. "Oh, hey, there's another bathroom down that hall, why don't you take it, son?" Goku pointed to his left.

"Oh, right." A few minutes went by and Vegeta was beginning to lose what little patience remained in him. He had already disregarded the other two Saiyans' attempt at civility and dressed in his armor where he was, not caring if anyone saw him remove his clothing. Why bother using the bathrooms? They were inside, after all.

"Aww, man… I'm going to look like my evil brother now…" Goku whined as he exited the bathroom. He picked at his armor while he and Vegeta waited for Gohan to finish changing. Lucky for them, their wives had gone out with Bra, Pan and a reluctant Goten to the mall for some shopping, and Trunks was on the other side of the world, so they did not have to worry about anyone spotting them or learning of the dire threat to the Earth just yet.

"Will you stop complaining, Kakarot!" Vegeta barked. "Your weakling brother was not "evil" he was just a good warrior and followed orders! Unlike YOU," Vegeta spat, sneering and not realizing he had just made a compliment, if rather a bad one, but still a compliment.

"Well, gee Vegeta, it wasn't _my_ fault…" Goku responded, rubbing his head in thought. "I fell…"

"Because you're a clumsy, bumbling idiot," Vegeta snapped.

"Ugh..." Gohan grunted in annoyance. This name calling thing was a near constant thing between his dad and Vegeta, and frankly, it was beginning to piss him off. "Please knock it off Vegeta," Gohan sighed tiredly as he walked out of the bathroom, sporting his new armor, missing the eye-roll from said older Saiyan. "Personally, I never thought these looked too bad…" he commented, having checked himself over the mirror in the bathroom. 'These armors look better than the ones we wore on Namek…' he thought nonchalantly. The armor he had worn had been white plated with light-brown pads and a blue mesh underneath it, but this "new" armor they were wearing was black with dark-green pads and black mesh underneath it.

"At least you don't look half as ridiculous as your dimwit father," Vegeta grunted in something akin to respect - noticing how Gohan wrapped his tail around his waist naturally like he and his brethren had done in the past. Gohan glowered at Vegeta and was about to retort but Goku spoke first, clearly trying to stop his son from snapping again.

"Hey son, if your mom saw us in these she'd faint… don't you think?" Goku said with a jovial grin.

Gohan smiled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she would definitely flip."

"Stop wasting time. We have a mission to take care of," Vegeta barked, turning his back on them and storming out of the house. With Vegeta out of ear-shot Gohan turned to his father.

"Dad… I'm worried," Gohan said suddenly, his tail twitching in anxiety. That same feeling he's had nagged at him again… something was going to happen, if not by their enemy then by something else, not to mention there were other things he was worried about now that he thought about it.

"Aw, don't worry, son! You trained us pretty well - Vegeta and I can both ascend to a much higher level than we ever thought we could and I take great pride in _knowing _that no one would be able to land a finger on you!" Goku cheered, trying to soothe his son.

"That's not really what I'm worried about. I won't have a problem fitting in with my _tail_ but you and Vegeta lost yours… and now its too late to have Dr. Calvin inject some of the serum that gave me mine…" Gohan said and sighed, his shoulders slumping in apprehension.

"Hm, that _is_ a problem. Oh, I know, we'll just say we lost them in combat!" Goku suggested. Gohan raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, who knows, maybe it'd work?

"HURRY UP!" Vegeta yelled from outside; it was show time…

* * *

**End A/N**: Unfortunately, I have no idea when the next update of this story will be. Since my muse has been having a bad case of ADD, reviews will really help it stay focused! Please tell me what you thought of this! :)

Shout-Outs:

**Metal Man**: Don't be silly, I don't disregard my reader's opinions! Here's my answer - I'm sorry you feel that way but you misunderstand! My intentions was to keep Mirai Gohan's personality… in that time line he was by no means a nerd, an intellectual, and really wise… he was a fighter like his dad – he had to be, under the circumstances… I am not basing Gohan on the series (the mystic thing was because I was trying to follow the series in that respect… believe me, I thought it was silly too… though I dunno about the deus ex machina thing… he always has a reason for "appearing out of nowhere" to help… and its seldom "out of nowhere". He doesn't lack training – he has been training for twenty something years straight…). **Have you read my previous stories?** Because if you haven't then **you are** **missing** a lot of **information**! A lot of material! Forgive me if I wrote him as patronizing, I didn't mean to… I tried to write him as a leader, I guess I went over-board… I'll try to tone it down. Believe me, I hate mary-sues and did not intend this to look like one. Thank you for the review anyway :)

**Shiva the Sarcastic**: Ahh… well… that's the excuse anyway ^_^;

**Lourdes-Sunrise-Princess**: I know right? I love picking on Veggie :D :D

**Jakeub**: XD I know I update slow… VERY slow… I do too many things at the same time lol *sigh*

**Makai Alexa: **You're so needy! I can only do so much woman!

**Xj9**: I know, right? I was actually going for that "big happy family" feel to this "saga" :D I didn't want it to JUST be about Gohan, you know? Glad you like it!

**Mandalore18**: Its not dead, its just on hiatus...

**LindseyXZ**: Oh pshaw, I'm not a master of anything lol I'm glad you liked them though! I hope you liked this one too lol though it was a bit more tamed than I am capable of writing... I wasn't really "in the mood" to write a really steamy one though... sorry. I do not plan on dropping this, I was just taking a long break from DBZ.


	9. Infiltration

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: This chapter will have a bit of action. I didn't want this to be like a mindless fighting chapter though, so sit still for that if that's what you were expecting.

* * *

After donning their new armor, the three Saiyans took off running toward the Saiyan camp. They did not want to fly because they would have to raise their power-levels to do so, and stealth was the key here. When they got close to the camp, they found that the Saiyans had already set it up. "Looks like they used capsules or something for those bunkers, no way they could have built all that in the few hours they had..." Gohan whispered. The three hid behind some tall trees and moss-covered boulders. The "camp" site was configured more like a mobile military base rather than a mock up camp with tents and bonfires. Clearly, these were no ordinary mindless warriors; whoever was behind this set up, was a strategist and thinker... this could be tricky to deal with... at least, that's what Gohan suspected.

"Come on, there's an opening there, no one will see us slip in," Vegeta gruffly suggested.

"There's only fifteen... that's not much of an invasion," Goku commented, scratching his head in confusion.

"Its a scout group, they wouldn't send the whole army down to an unknown planet! That'd be foolish!" Vegeta growled.

"Ah, I see... well, let's go," Goku lead the way, moving quickly amongst the trees and toward the clearing. Once the three made it in, they decided to split up to cover more ground. The mission now was to find out more of their plans and when the real invasion would begin. While Gohan snuck in toward the rear of the camp, Vegeta wandered over to what looked like the barracks and armory of the camp.

'It seems being under _Freeza's _employ as his "elite army" gives them certain technological advantages...' Vegeta thought begrudgingly. The three were equally relieved when they were able to slip in unnoticed. It seemed that the number of men to come down and scout out the place was completely random, otherwise they would have thought of strange that the scout team suddenly grew and would have surely been alerted to intruders.

"V-Vegeta? Prince Vegeta, is that _you_?" Well... so much for _that _bit of luck.

"..." Vegeta stared wide-eyed at the man for a second, trying to remember if he'd seen him before but couldn't. Thankfully, he seemed more surprised and at awe than angry or suspicious. "What if I am, do I know you?" he snapped. "Come on, speak up!"

"Uh- n-no, sir! I just remember seeing you back home before, at one of the royal gatherings. Forgive me, sir, no disrespect intended, but what are you doing here? I thought you were with Lord Freeza?" the man questioned.

"How _dare _you question me, you dog! I am your Prince! Do you really think I would sit back and allow the bunch of you flee-ridden peasants do a _real_ Saiyan's job?" he growled. Hopefully, these soldiers would be easy enough to fool.

"I-I'm sorry, Prince Vegeta, of course you'd be here, you'd want revenge too, right?" the man said, averting his eyes from Vegeta submissively and ducking his way.

"...Yes, of course, now go back to whatever it was you were doing!" Vegeta ordered. While he _hated _being reminded of Freeza and all that bastard stood for, he had to play along.

Elsewhere, not far from where Vegeta had wandered, Goku was having a similar problem. "Commander Bardock?" one Saiyan asked in shock and others around turned their heads toward them, gaping openly at their old comrade.

"Um, who?" Goku asked in confusion. 'Bardock... Bardock... why does that name sound familiar?' he wondered.

"What do you mean "who"? You're Bardock! Aren't you? Then again, you could be Turles also... but both men are supposed to be dead! You look so much like Bardock though..." the man continued, still staring at Goku in disbelief.

'Bardock must be my father...' he thought finally. "I am G-Kakarot, Bardock was my ...father..." Goku answered, hoping they didn't catch the slip-up.

"You don't say? That's unbelievable! I didn't think that old dog had any more whelps! Hah! Well, what are you doing here, _Kakarot_? Did you come in on one of the ships? How come I didn't see you before?" the soldier asked curiously, a hint of suspicion evident in his tone.

"Err yeah, I keep mostly to myself, that's why you probably haven't seen my much. Of course I came on the ship, how else would I be here?" Goku answered immediately, trying not to look too friendly... if he knew anything about Saiyans, at least, from what he'd seen from Vegeta and Nappa, they weren't exactly very cheery people, so he added a frown at the end.

"Fair enough..." the soldier grunted.

"What happened to your tail, soldier?" A very angry voice snapped.

Goku whirled around to see a rather huge looking man with several scars adorning his pale, muscular body. He assumed this man was a leader of some sort, the Commander of this troop of Saiyans maybe. "I lost it in battle, sir," he answered, putting in a bit of venom in his excuse.

"That was careless and stupid of you! What are you doing down here then? You are useless to this mission! Get back on the ship, whelp!" the Commander growled angrily.

"But sir, I may not be able to transform, but I am still plenty strong!" Goku protested, hoping Vegeta and Gohan were having better luck.

"I said GO!" the bigger man tried to slam his fist into Goku's cheek but Goku caught the fist. The man growled in anger and tried to punch him again, and again his efforts were thwarted. Goku let go and began blocking and deflecting punches and kicks. Before he could stop himself, instinct had Goku shoot his own fist forward, crushing it against the other man's head and sending him hurtling forward and into a large rock formation.

'Oh crud!' Goku had to keep himself from gaping, hoping to God that this didn't blow his cover... luckily, when the Commander eventually returned, looking bloody and rather shaky, he noticed he and the rest of the men around, had a look of respect on their faces.

"Very well, Kakarot. You have proven yourself! If you could defeat _me _that easily, perhaps there is hope for you yet!" the Commander grunted, slapping Goku over the shoulder in a comradely way. "Come, let us feast! I hear Prince Vegeta is joining us this battle, what a treat! He must be seeking revenge for his master's demise as well! Come, come!" the Commander ushered the men, including Goku, forward, further into the camp.

While Vegeta and Goku were taken further into camp, Gohan stood amongst the others, having snuck in to scope the other parts out. His presence didn't seem to stir up any suspicious luckily, as he had the good sense to try to mimic the behavior he witnessed from the others - which was looking bored and mean basically. While he walked among the men, he heard them whispering to each other... they were saying some very interesting things.

"I bet these puny people will good slaves!" One soldier cackled. Gohan had been walking around for a while now and had been hearing similar things. It made his blood boil... however, he couldn't do anything about it, y_et_.

Once Gohan collected the information he needed, he made his way over to his father. When he reached him, he was surprised to find the men around him laughing and telling him stories about someone named "Bardock"... but what really surprised him was the almost excited look on his father's face! 'I should have known dad would get along with _anyone_...' he thought with a shake of the head. Before he could make it to the table, however, he brushed shoulders with another Saiyan, a round, mean looking Saiyan with a scratchy beard.

"HEY! Watch where you're going, punk!" The Saiyan barked, growling menacingly at Gohan. Gohan knew better than to apologize and act like a weakling, he would have to display some sort of skill or dominance. Frankly, this reminded him more of a pack of dogs or wolves than anything else...

"Err-What are you gunna do about it, tubby?" Gohan snapped right back, puffing his chest and glaring at the man.

"Oh, looks like this one's got some spirit in 'em! Well, let's see what that spirit looks like eh? Cuz I'm gunna pull it outta you!" The man roared. As the man tried to attack Gohan, a sense of deja vu went through the camp, having just witnessed something like this from "Kakarot" and the commander.

Gohan's eyes widened when the man moved faster than he was prepared for. 'Whoa! I guess they're more powerful than they look!' he thought as he dodged a vicious strike. To Gohan's surprise, though it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise, the men around him and his "dance partner" were cheering for a fight. 'Well, if they want to see some good action, I'll give 'em a good show!' he thought with a frown. What he _really _wanted to do was get rid of them all, remove them from this planet one way or another, but he guessed he could settle for venting his anger and frustration on this guy for now. 'I better hold back, I don't want to accidentally kill the guy...'

"Huh? What's the matter, punk? Getting tired? Why don't you fight me already! Stop avoiding me!" The man growled, whirling around to attempt to kick his opponent. Gohan easily caught the man's foot and slammed his forearm against his shin, making the man cry out in pain. Gohan let go of him and hopped backwards, his eyes trained on the now furious man. "YOU LITTLE SHIT!" The man snapped and to Gohan's surprise, got up and stood on both feet! Surely his leg was now broken, yet he was willing to take on the pain in order to keep fighting! These were definitely not ordinary enemies they were dealing with... it was no wonder they were "elite" soldiers!"

"You asked for it!" Gohan retorted, blocking another hard punch and then immediately dodging a blow to his exposed side. 'Well, this guy may be really good, but he's still not much of a challenge... this is getting kinda boring and I still have a job to do!' he thought and before their eyes, he appeared to vanish and reappear behind the man. The soldier was too slow to turn or dodge the hit, he never saw it coming and before he knew it, his world went dark and his body fell to the flood. There was a collective silence for a moment before cheering erupted. Gohan turned from the group and began making his way further in to look for his dad.

Once Goku was located, Gohan waited until he was relatively alone to speak to him. "How'd it go, son?" Goku asked curiously.

"I have information but-" Gohan paused as a man went by, nodding respectfully toward either him or Goku, "-we'll have to wait until everyone's asleep to talk, too many ears around to hear us..." he finished.

"Good thinking, son. In the meantime, they had a whole bunker full of food over there!" Goku resisted the urge to rub his hands together.

"Ah, okay, dad... I'll see you later then..." Gohan shook his head as he watched his dad make his way toward the "kitchen" with a gleeful expression trying to poke through a false gruff look. Gohan waited for to single out Vegeta as he did with his dad before he told him the plan as well. If the tree wanted to remain undercover and make a strategic move to saving the Earth, they would have to keep low profiles as long as they could.

When night came, the three men snuck out of the barracks, counting on how deep every Saiyan slept, and Gohan gave his information. He told them that in two days, when the moon would be full, the scout team would transform and destroy as much of the opposition as they could before the main army would land... then they would wipe out every man on the planet and enslave the women and children. "Damnit, we should kill them all, now!" Vegeta whispered harshly.

"We can't arouse too much suspicion! If we attack them now, the rest of the invading force might come down here!" Gohan whispered back.

Vegeta's fists tightened and he gritted his teeth as he spoke. "So? We'll take _them _on as well!" he countered.

Goku shook his head and frowned. "Too many people might get hurt! We have to find a way to deal with this silently..." he interjected.

"Fine, have it your way, but if the Earth is conquered and the people killed or enslaved, don't say I didn't warn you!" The shorter Saiyan growled.

"We need to warn everyone! No doubt they're gunna be able to sense more than a dozen rampaging monsters!" Gohan's own hand balled into a fist.

"Oozarus," Vegeta corrected offhandedly.

"Whatever, come on, if we go now, we may be able to make it back on time!" Gohan suggested urgently.

"On time for _what_? On time to watch fifteen Oozarus completely _destroy _the Earth?" Vegeta growled.

"There's no time to sit around and argue, _let's go_!" Gohan snapped.

Vegeta looked at Gohan with an exasperated expression. "Ugh! Whatever! Let's just get this over with then!" he snarled, lifting into the air and taking off ahead of them.

Gohan turned to his father and nodded. "Let's go, dad!" he said, and took Vegeta's example, taking off into the sky with Goku close behind. Luckily, with everyone asleep, no one would have a scouter and be able to detect them as they flew.

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**End A/N**: Well, there you have it! A rather short chapter, but full of information and a bit of action :D. Omg, will they make it on time? Will they be able to stop the invasion and save the Earth? Is there even any hope? Stay tuned for another exciting chapter of – Remnants :D bleh, lame, I know. Make me happy people, give me your input! Input helps the story blossom and my muse to stay focused!

Shout-Outs:

**LindseyXZ** : Yay! Thanks! Yes, too much detail can be a bit nasty...

**Shiva the Sarcastic**: Hey you! Good to see you haven't given up on me :D. Thanks!

**Xj9**: Ah, forgive me if I disappointed you with the weak reaction to the lack of tails from Vegeta and Goku lol


	10. Another Ascension!

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: Pretty exciting chapter here! I hope you all like it!

* * *

It took a few hours to wake everyone up and gather them at Capsule Corps. It was the best place at the moment because it was large enough to hold everyone and secure enough to withstand attacks – thanks to Bulma's reinforcement to the integrity of her home, after the whole android fiasco. It took another few hour to convince everyone to stay put and let Goku, Gohan and Vegeta handle the invaders. Unfortunately, it was already well into the day after all the arguing and reasoning was done and there was now a small window before the attack began. After things were settled the mixed group of friends and family watched the three men fly off in a hurry.

"This isn't good! Night is approaching pretty fast, if we don't make it there on time..." Gohan trailed off.

"Relax, son, everything will be okay, I promise," Goku tried to reassure his son but Gohan wasn't really listening at this point. "Son, we're a lot stronger than they are, we can-"

"You don't know that, dad! They've been hiding their power- they could be as tough as Freeza or worse for all we know..." Gohan argued.

"True, they could be, but son, if you were able to defeat Cell without much difficulty, even if he wasn't in his "perfect" state as you claim, he was still more powerful than Freeza ever was... they can't be that strong!" Maybe Goku was right... maybe Gohan just needed to relax now and think things through.

"If you ladies are done arguing, I'm going to go ahead!" Vegeta grumbled, flying off a little faster.

"He has the right idea, son, you should sneak in after us, we stirred up more notice than you, it'll be odd if we're not there for whatever they have planned..." Goku nodded to his son. "We'll see you soon!" he said before speeding up to catch up. Gohan watched Vegeta and his father land on the ground after a bit of flying and take off running, maybe he should too, after all, this was still a stealth mission. Running would take longer but they couldn't afford to get caught and for the main fleet to be alerted. The rapidly darkening of the sky encouraged Gohan to speed up but... he feared he would not make it on time.

When Gohan was close he skidded to a stop when he felt very powerful Ki not far from where the camp was. 'Damnit, I'm too late!' Gohan quickly powered up into the first ascension of his Mystic Super Saiyan form – just in case – and headed toward them. When he got close, he could feel his father and Vegeta nearby, probably trying to figure out how to take down fifteen enormous primates without giving themselves away... and of course he could not see said primates marching straight toward a city! 'This is NOT good!' Gohan took a step toward them but something stopped him... something was not right with that night – besides the invading king-kongs trying to decimate the population before a huge army could take over the world, of course.

"Oh no..." Goku's eyes widened when he felt his son suddenly stop approaching altogether.

"What?" Vegeta barked, his eyes still trained on the rampaging apes.

"Look!" Goku pointed to his son. Vegeta sighed in irritation but turned to look at what his bumbling fool of a "friend" was pointing at.

"...Oh no..." Vegeta agreed. Behind Gohan, the largest full moon they had ever seen was rising up over the hill... but something was different that night.

The call of the moon forced Gohan to turn around and look at it. He had never been this drawn to a full moon before. As soon as his eyes locked on it, he could not look away. 'Wow… a full lunar eclipse! That's amazing, its so red! I've nev-" Gohan suddenly stopped. He stood on a soft patch of grass on a hill that overlooked the advancing group of giant ape-like creatures. He jerked his attention to the grass, using all his strength to look away. 'Something's wrong…' he thought growing more and more anxious. Was this what had been bothering him for so long? Something definitely did _not _feel right. "What…" Gohan frowned in confusion, getting a powerful urge to look up into the night sky, not letting him keep his eyes averted from the moon. He jerked his head to the side, trying to resist the urge, having an idea what would happen if he did and ran a hand through his bright, white hair.

The blood-red moon called to him like nothing else; like a strong addiction, it whispered in his ear and seemed to enter his mind, intoxicating his senses. Gohan couldn't help himself, he had to obey it, now he knew why his parents had always kept him indoors early on in the day, when the moon would be full that night, when he was a boy. Gohan groaned in defeat and turned his head up, looking directly into the glow of the moon as it hovered seemingly innocently over him. A strangled gasp escaped him and his eyes widened. His gold irises vanished and his pupils widened, turning a deep red as he stared into the moon.

Gohan's heartbeat began to accelerate, his breathing quicker and quicker as his tail curled tightly as if responding to how ensnared and paralyzed to his fate he felt. A growl escaped his throat, his brows furrowed and he jerked in pain as his body began to transform unwillingly. Gohan groaned in pain and fell to his knees. "N-No! W-What is hap..errrrrRRRR" Gohan jerked up, arching his back and roared in fury, he roared in fear, and he roared… just because he could. Brown fur began to sprout from his body and soon began to glow gold and then to white as his form took in his Mystic Super Saiyan ascension.

When Gohan finished transforming he was no longer Gohan… he was, Oozaru. "Dear God…" Goku muttered from where he and Vegeta where watching the invading Oozaru Saiyan group. The fifteen other Oozarus – who were as deadly and powerful as an army of thousands of men armed to the teeth - suddenly stopped and looked on with something closely resembling fear as the white Oozaru glared them down from the distance. Before any of them could react Gohan flew at them with nearly incomprehensible speed – the bulk he had acquired not slowing him down by the least bit - smashing jaws, faces, snouts, and chests, anything he could reach.

"Well I'll be damned..." Vegeta muttered.

"Is that what you meant all those years ago, Vegeta? The Saiyan's greatest ability? The weapon? The form used to "purge" planets?" Goku narrowed his eyes at his friend who crossed his arms and smirked in response.

"The same," he answered. 'Now, that's a true Saiyan,' he thought as he watched Gohan grab tails, swing them around and smash them against other enemy Oozarus. Gohan roared and stomped his feet after the group of invading Saiyans had been eliminated.

Videl frowned worriedly. Like everyone, she had sensed something go terribly wrong with Gohan's Ki signature, she knew it was him but it still scared the living hell out of her. She _had _to know what was going on! She had to know if he was okay! That in mind, Videl lowered her power-level as Gohan taught her to do so many years ago and snuck out of the house undetected. She suspected Piccolo knew, since he seemed to have an uncanny ability to detect even the slightest sounds and such, but he didn't stop her.

Videl didn't care if people were alerted to her as she took off flying now, nothing could stop her now! She flew as hard and fast as she could, desperately trying to make it there before something happened... she didn't know _what _but something, she just had to get there. When she made it there, she saw them... and now she knew what her husband's species were capable of. She was glad Gohan had taught her to sense the energy of other beings now that she thought of it.

"Oh no! Its Videl!" Goku gasped.

"What? What is that crazy woman doing?" Vegeta spat. Goku and Vegeta watched in horror as Videl flew up to his face, trying to catch his attention. By this time, Gohan had stopped moving, he had already defeated the scout group of invaders and just stood still... as if he were fighting to take control of himself. This was _not _a good time for Videl to be there, but Goku and Vegeta didn't want to risk enraging the beast... after all, they were male and if might seem like they were trying to over power Gohan's animalistic dominance.

Videl tried speaking, she tried stopping his violent movements but it seemed as if he didn't know who she was, didn't know who his father or Vegeta were either as they watched on in shock and dread. "GOHAN!" Videl screamed, the big beast suddenly stopped and turned to look at her, growling and snuffing as she floated up to his face. Gohan roared and went to smack her away but she flew back. "Gohan please!" She called, he stopped once more and let her approach him this time.

"Gohan! Gohan, its me, Videl! Do you remember me?" She said, hesitating to get any closer to him, lest he figure she'd make a good snack. Gohan lifted his furred hand and was about to strike the pestering flying thing with the familiar voice but she spoke again, placing her warm hands on his snout. "Gohan… my husband, my mate… look at me, don't you recognize me? Your wife, your partner… your friend…" Videl stroked his face, much like she had when they first met. The great big beast's eyes softened suddenly, remembering the touch like it happened yesterday.

Gohan stood there, staring into the achingly familiar face until his eyes widened and a soft whimper escaped him. "Gohan… you can't forget me, your family, everyone who loves you… I won't let you…" Videl said, tears slipping down her face. The beast eyed her a moment and with his finger, gently caressed her cheeks, drying her of her tears. "Gohan?" she questioned hopefully. "D-Do you remember?" Gohan seemed to make a huff noise and looked down at himself, noticing for the first time where he was and what he was, blinking as awareness returned to him.

Videl gasped and backpedaled - watching in shock as Gohan suddenly began to growl and clench his fists tightly. Lightning began to swarm around him, wind whipped around them and his animalistic growls began to turn… Saiyan, human, whatever it was, it did not sound like a beast anymore. Videl landed by her father-in-law and watched in shock as the huge animal transformed, diminishing in size. They watched as the white fur turned blood-red, hair grew and turned black, and the face that had been of an ape changed to Gohan again, though it was a lot sharper… he had silenced the beast, beaten the call of the moon… ascended once more.

"H-How? You're… You're a new form! Y-You reached a new ascension! Incredible!" Vegeta said in a shocked, strangled voice. Gohan ran his hands through his now much longer hair and looked down at himself, he had once again grown in mass and blood-red fur had sprouted over his body, even his tail fur had changed in color but his hair had turned black again. He turned his red-rimmed eyes toward his friends and family, concern for their safety etched within them now that his mind was clear. He relaxed somewhat when he saw they were okay.

"G-Gohan?" Videl said softly. Gohan turned to her, his eyes now softer almost... peaceful. He offered her a weak smile and nodded his head in thanks, resisting the urge to run over and smother her with kisses, not knowing if something would change, if he would change again… or if she would still find him attractive if he was covered in fur and almost seven feet tall.

"You look just like a human version of those monsters!" Goku exclaimed.

"Oozarus!" Vegeta corrected again.

"I feel… different…" Gohan said in a different voice, much more gruff and gravelly than before, and looked around at the stunned faces. Gohan briefly wondered why he hadn't automatically merged his powers like he had before. Perhaps though, because it was a completely new form – like the first time he went Mystic Super Saiyan – he needed to combine them manually.

"…But Gohan, what about your "mystic" powers?" Goku asked as if able to read Gohan's thoughts.

"I guess, before I merge my two powers, I can only use one or the other. This power feels overwhelming but somehow… not as strong as when I fought Buu seven years ago," he answered with a shrug.

"Well… you mixed your powers then, remember?" Videl chimed in. "Maybe that mix is more powerful than this… form, but you weren't this when you mixed them… maybe you'll be even stronger if you tried that?" She suggested. Gohan clenched his fists and flexed his arms, enjoying the feeling anyway, even if it was weaker in comparison.

"I suppose, but I have no need to test that out though. Hmm, though I might have to, since when I power up I don't just go Super Saiyan anymore," he said and with a sigh forced his body to relax, returning it to its normal state.

"Wow, that looked weird," Videl raised an eyebrow, referring to his rapid shortening of the hair, disappearance of the fur, and slightly diminishing mass.

"Man, if only I still had my tail!" Vegeta growled to himself in annoyance.

"Yeah…" Goku agreed, smirking proudly at his son. 'First Gohan turns into a "Mystic-Super-Saiyan"… now this! A fourth ascension! WOW! Whoa, if his first transformation to his mystic form almost destroyed the planet, I wonder what his new ascensions would do to it if combined…' he thought with a mix of intrigue and horror.

"Gohan?" Said Saiyan looked down at his wife who wrapped her arms around him and smiled softly. "Do you remember what I told you not long ago?" she began. Gohan smiled affectionately and nodded, he did remember their conversations.

"Yes, you told me that when trouble did show its horns that I'd take them and rip them off…" he answered softly.

"That's right… and you did! See? I told you there was nothing to worry about," Videl kissed his lips feather lightly.

"Its not over yet…" Gohan said with a frown, looking up into the night sky. "King Kai warned us of an Army… not a small group… the others must be waiting in space…" He said and clenched his jaw.

"Well then, go get 'em, hero," Videl answered. Gohan looked down and saw the fiery determination in her eyes, the same strong, dominating look he had fallen in love with so many years ago, the same look that could be severe in one moment and soft and gentle the next.

"You're absolutely right."

"I _know _I am," Videl grinned. Gohan kissed her back and turned to the other men.

"Alright… Dad, Vegeta, you guys coming with me?" He asked, though he knew the answer.

"You know we will, son," Goku answered as well. Vegeta said nothing, just snorted and crossed his arms – that was definitely a yes from him. Gohan had to convince Videl to stay behind, to go back to the group while he, his dad, and Vegeta delt with the army. Gohan assured Videl that she was very strong and _could _help them, but he just didn't want to expose her to so much danger so soon, not when they had a daughter to take care of. Videl finally relented and after a good luck kiss, flew off, back to her friends and family.

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**End A/N**: Woo! Exciting chapter here! Although, it could have been better I think... Alright! Its about time Gohan ascended again, eh? :D

Shout-Outs:

**RKF22**: Thanks, I'll try :D

**Swoofie**: Wow, thanks a lot! Your review really made my day :D and I know, right? So many bad stories have reviews in the hundreds... but then again, sometimes they're constructive criticisms, other times they're flames and such... it also depends on what category you write for, some have more fans than others. I'm so glad you liked my stories :D. Wow, a couple hours to read all three of my fics? I'm impressed lol I consider myself a fast reader but it takes me a day to read 3 fics like mine (short ones) so yeah, wow, kudos!

**Xj9**: I'm glad you approve of my mediocre "fights" lol, I'm pretty bad at writing action like that... I never really know what to say. I'm glad you liked it though!

**Shiva the Sarcastic**: Thank you, I'm glad you're still holding on lol.


	11. Author's Note

A Note From The Author...

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I'm sorry if you thought this was an update, I'm not yet finished with the actual chapter, I _hate _these kinds of "false chapters" as well, but this had to be addressed.

Alright, listen here, I _love_ it that you readers out there are trying to help out and recommend things to me and believe me when I say I listen to all of you, but I really don't need more than one person to suggest something or give me advice on something. Unlike some authors out there that don't listen or ignore it when people try to help out by pointing out mistakes or when an author is taking something too far, I DO listen, I listen to the first person that tells me.

I read BurningPanther's review just as well as the rest of you, I don't need more than one reminder to point out what he said and what to do, I got it already, I understand, I'll take the advice to heart, so please stop pointing things out that I was already made aware of.

Now I will tell all of you what I would have told BurningPanther in the shout-out in the next chapter. Thank you for the advice and I assure you, I will take it to heart and try to tone Gohan down a notch, give room for the other characters to breathe too. I started noticing how much I was over-doing the whole Gohan thing by the end of Mirai Majin Buu, but I couldn't do anything about it at the time... it would have changed the whole plot! But yeah, sorry about that – suggestion _fully _noted.

Another of you suggested that Gohan have a side-kick... this isn't batman and robin and a spirit bomb doesn't count since it would be every living thing on the planet whoever was making the bomb would be on. However, I included Vegeta and Goku with Gohan for a reason, they don't just stand around and watch him kick butt, they offer advice, they support him, they tamper each other down when things get too testy... you can find all these examples in the latest couple chapters.

All of that being said, I want to also thank all of you who stuck with me even during my obscene hiatus and even deigned me with reviews! I love you all! Thank you for taking the time to read this notice and I hope everyone has a great day/night. The next (real) chapter of this story will be posted soon, not sure when but I promise it'll be this month lol.

-KageOkami-Kogo


	12. Espionage

Remnants

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Dragon Ball Z

**A/N**: Epic lateness! I'm sorry I had to write that author's note but if I had done it here, it would have annoyed too many people, taken away from the story, and would have been too late. I didn't want a million people telling me the same thing. Also, I'm sorry I lied... I didn't update when I said I would... my job's got me working weird hours and I come home too exhausted to update D: but since then I kinda fell out of interest in this fic, though that doesn't mean I've abandoned it! Now to celebrate getting a new keyboard after several years of having my old one, here's an update! Shout-Outs at the bottom. Enjoy!

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The night was still, the smell of fear and anger held heavily in the air where Gohan, Goku, and Vegeta stood. The men had just successfully infiltrated the enemy camp of the scout force of the invading remnant army and witnessed yet another ascension by the youngest of the three. The three men found the ship the scouts had left a short distance away. The ship was guarded by two large Saiyans, both looking worried and tense, no doubt having heard the awful commotion from the enemy camp and wondering what was going on. While Gohan scanned the area for more stragglers, Vegeta took out the guards quickly and silently. Gohan stared at the unconscious men by his feet, wondering what they would do with them now. "What're we going to do with these guys?" he asked, tensing when one of them groaned, as if answering him and breathed a sigh of relief when he no longer stirred.

Vegeta walked over to him and studied the ship."A ship of that size has a small holding cell, we'll pack them in it," he answered, grabbing two of the Saiyans by the back of their armor and dragging them toward the ship. They gathered all the men up, including the men who had went on the rampage, and were about to head inside when they felt a familiar Ki signature flying toward them.

"Trunks?" Gohan questioned, turning to see said young man flying over.

"Hey guys!" The men watched as Trunks landed by them.

"Hey Trunks! What are you doing here?" Gohan asked, surprised to see his pupil. It must have taken him a while to fly from where he had been.

"Well, I felt that something was wrong. I felt the weird power-levels from space and I felt you power up, even from the other side of the world! Something really bad must have happened, what's going on?" he asked in concerned curiosity.

"Some bad news, that's what. There's an army of brain-washed Saiyans in a few ships orbiting the Earth. They sent some scouts down but they've been taken care of," Gohan answered. "We were on our way to face the invaders with this ship."

"I'm coming with you"

"I don't think that's-"

"You _know _I'm capable of keeping up with all of you!" Trunks retorted before Gohan could finish. Silence fell for a moment, both men giving each other challenging stares.

"You can come, boy," Vegeta suddenly said, surprising the three other men. "No son of mine is going to stand around and twiddle his thumbs while there is a battle to be done!" Vegeta stated vehemently. "And if you don't agree, Gohan, you can kiss my ass! He's coming!"

"Fair enough!" Gohan responded, his hands up and eyes wide. This was the first time Vegeta had willfully acknowledged Trunks as his son, not to mention defended him. The look of awe in Trunks' face didn't leave him for a while, even as they boarded the ship silently. They first took stock of where everything on the ship was in case of an emergency. Space-suits and the like. And, after securing the unconscious scouts to the brig, they made their way to the bridge.

"I think this armor is defective," Trunks muttered to himself, pulling at the shoulder armor to adjust them better.

"That type of armor is an old design, it takes a bit to get used to it," Vegeta said with a scoff.

"Right," Trunks settled in his seat. After they had boarded the ship and stowed away the soldiers, they found the armory where Trunks could don on a disguise of his own. It was now going to be trickier to blend in with everyone else, three unknown faces was bad enough, but with another... they just hoped the presence of Vegeta would deter their questions.

"Who is going to fly this thing?" Goku asked, looking over to Vegeta.

"Don't look at me! This hunk of junk is older than my dead father would have been if he was still alive!" Vegeta growled.

"I don't see why it'd be that difficult to figure out," Gohan said, walking over to the pilot's seat and sitting down. "I think I understand, these controls are pretty basic, did you even look at them, Vegeta?"

Insulted, the proud Saiyan crossed his arms and glared. "I am a Prince, not a pilot!" Vegeta snapped.

"Alright, alright," Gohan sighed and started the ship up. Before they knew it, they were hurtling out of the last layer of Earth's atmosphere.

"That's the lead ship, let's head there," Vegeta pointed to what looked like a mix between the ship Freeza had landed on Namek in and a carrier. Gohan shrugged and headed there but suddenly there was a loud beeping in the controls.

"I think they're trying to communicate with us," Trunks said.

"Yeah, they probably want to know why their scout ship returned so early," Gohan agreed. "Should I answer it?" he felt fear making the hairs on his neck and arm stand up. It wasn't that he was afraid of his safety or the safety of the others with him, he was afraid that the slightest trigger would set the invasion off and they wouldn't be able to stop them before millions dying on Earth.

"They might fire on us if we don't – I dunno about you guys but _I _can't breathe well in open space..." Goku responded seriously.

"Right, I guess we'll have to lie then," Gohan hesitated a second before flipping a switch next to what he supposed was a transmitter device. Immediately after opening a channel, a male voice began questioning them.

"Scout-Ship One, report status – is the mission complete?" it asked.

"Um," Gohan cleared his throat. "No sir, not yet?" he answered uneasily.

"Then why have you returned? Is something wrong?" the person questioning them had suspicion in his tone.

Gohan glanced over at his companions but they were just as clueless about this situation as he was. "...Everything's fine, the Commander just sent us here to – uh... - retrieve more supplies? There was a mix-up and too little was packed..." Gohan lied, flinching at the lame excuse and shrugging at his companions who gave him weird looks.

"Ugh..." Vegeta snorted in annoyance.

"That idiot, he's always making that mistake! Alright, lock weapons and proceed to dock two," the voice commanded.

"Copy," Gohan flicked the radio off. "I can't believe he fell for that!" He grinned, receiving nods of agreement from Goku and Trunks and an eye-roll from the Saiyan Prince. He proceeded to lock down the weapons and steer the small craft toward the appropriately labeled docking door. The door opened and the group held their breath as they massed scanners – no doubt to check if the weapons were indeed off and how much damage the ship had taken. When the ship was directed to land in a certain spot, and they touched down, they relaxed. They had made it in and now it was time for a little more espionage before dealing with the leaders.

"I can't believe how easy that was..." Trunks muttered, bouncing from one foot to the other.

"Hey, Trunks, settle down, don't look too excited... we're still under cover, we have to blend in with them," Goku warned.

"Right, right, okay, sorry," Trunks nodded and forced himself to settle. He had been in countless battles and strange situations, but never anything like this. Sure, he was tense and worried about the success of the mission, but he had to admit it was also kind of exciting.

"Follow my lead..." Vegeta whispered and snuck the group around. They alternated between blending in with a crowd and slipping down hallways quietly and swiftly. The ship was a lot bigger than it looked on the outside.

"You have experience sneaking around?" Gohan questioned with a raised eyebrow, amusement clearly in his eyes.

"It is not sneaking around! A Prince would never stoop so low! It is merely secretly getting from one point to the next!" Vegeta argued.

"In other words, sneaking around," Trunks grinned. His smile fled his face when the older Saiyan glared daggers at him.

"Remember you guys, _do not kill_, understand?" Goku reminded them sternly.

"Yeah yeah whatever," Vegeta rolled his eyes once more. "We're almost to the bridge, one more level and-"

"Hey!" Trunks fell the floor and glared up at another large, muscular Saiyan. He had been walking passed a door when it suddenly slid opened and the man stepped out, pushing Trunks aside, catching the young half-Saiyan off guard. "Watch where you're going, chunky!" Trunks barked as he hopped back onto his feet and glared at the older male.

"Or what?" the other Saiyan smirked.

"Or I'll break your jaw!" Trunks snapped.

"You're just a weak, pathetic little runt! Get outta my face, whelp, you're not worth my time!" the fat Saiyan grunted, trying to move passed Trunks.

Goku had to literally hold both Vegeta and Gohan back from pummeling the other Saiyan. "Cool it you two, let Trunks handle this one," he whispered to them, getting them to still themselves. While he wasn't surprised Gohan would try to beat the man up, he _was _still surprised it affected Vegeta just as much. Perhaps Bra really was softening the older Saiyan up a bit? It was a pleasing turn of events, that was for sure.

"I demand you apologize to me, fatso!" Trunks growled, earning a glare from his opponent.

"You've got spunk, kid, I'll give ya that. But you wouldn't last a minute against me," the man chuckled.

"Why don't you prove it? How about you let me hit you if you're so sure?" Trunks challenged with a smirk of his own.

"Alright, kid, I'll humor you, just cuz I've got my own shit to get to, but I doubt you-" the older Saiyan couldn't finish his sentence. At that moment, Trunks' fist was firmly planted against the man's stomach, forcing him to bend over in a desperate attempt to alleviate the pain from the sudden punch. The man wheezed and felt his eyes bug out.

"You were saying?" Trunks asked in a cool, collected tone. The man groaned in agony and fell to his knees. Trunks pulled away and crossed his arms, then, with his foot, tipped the man over, who promptly folded himself up into a fetal position. "Next time, I won't go so easy on you, and I expect an apology next time as well!" Trunks declared before joining his three satisfied looking companions. While that moment felt good, it stirred trouble quicker than the four had anticipated. They were discovered to be strangers and intruders and soon they had half the ship after them. They worked quickly to knock out the hundreds of men stationed on that ship and made their way quickly to the bridge. When the door slid opened, a tall, broad-shouldered, muscular man with short, cropped black hair and a chiseled, but scarred face greeted them, his cape handing loosely off his wide shoulders and his head titled down in a glare. No doubt this was the leader of the group.

"So you're the intruders I was made aware of? You're lucky I didn't order the invasion of this pathetic, backwater planet to begin. I was curious who had the gall to attack my ship. Now I see it's nothing but-" The man stopped when his eyes landed on Vegeta. An array of emotions crossed his rugged face before astonishment and realization settled as the main emotions. "King Vegeta?" he asked in a hushed tone. "I thought you died?" Gohan stepped back from his position as leader of his group and let Vegeta take the reigns on this one, it was his right after all.

"I am not my father," Vegeta answered, his chin up and arms crossed.

"Prince Vegeta! What! Why? Where? When!" The Saiyan shook his head and dropped to his knees. "My lord!" he said. "Forgive me, I had no idea! If you would have contacted me personally, I would have allowed to unrestricted access!" the man declared.

"Well I'm here now, warrior," Vegeta answered.

"My lord, I was under the impression that you were in another part of the galaxy? What were you doing in this planet?"

"How dare you question your lord!" Vegeta snapped, taking a step forward.

"Forgive me, my lord!" the man grovelled.

"I live on that 'pathetic' planet, warrior," Vegeta answered him all the same.

"Live there, my lord? But sir! This planet is home to the one that destroyed our home world and killed our employer! We are lord Freeza's Saiyan guard. We were tasked specifically in finding the one who destroyed our planet! When we heard of his death by someone called Goku, who inhabited this planet, we set off here."

'So Freeza sent them off on a wild goose chase? Huh, figures the dirty bastard would give them an endless mission to kill them off without getting his hands dirty,' Vegeta frowned, his jaw tightening in anger. "Our planet was destroyed by Freeza himself!" he growled. "That bastard sent you on an endless, fruitless mission to get yourselves killed! Yes, 'Goku' killed Freeza, but he was doing only as a true Saiyan would do!" The three other men with Vegeta were once again stunned by his words. He was just full of surprised that day.

"T-Truly?" The leader of the army gasped. "Unbelievable... all this time..." he shook his head.

"Your name," Vegeta questioned.

"Forgive me, my lord. My name is General Turk, my lord, and my men and myself are at your disposal," Turk bent his head once again. The four other Saiyans visibly relaxed.

"I can accept your error, General, you will not be punished for this," Vegeta stated mercifully.

"Thank you, my lord," Turk lowered himself more.

"But you and your men will have to leave," Vegeta finished.

"Leave? Will you come with us, sir? You are our King now, after all," Turk asked, glancing up cautiously at his sovereign.

"I am aware of that," Vegeta nodded. "But I have made this planet my home now. There _is _a place you and your men may find more surviving Saiyans though," Vegeta began. He told Turk of a rumor he had heard in space once of a colony of Saiyans, lead by a man called Paragus, that they could establish a new Vegeta there. It was a planet not too far from their original homeworld and would make a suitable location to start over. "I do not know this, Paragus, but by your actions, intelligence, and the feel of your power, I have decided to make you, Duke, over New Vegeta," Vegeta declared. Turk's eyes widened and he bent his head once more.

"You honor me, my lord! I accept this responsibility and promise to rule our people with honor and valor in your stead!" Turk promised.

"Very good, now, allow us a ship and we will be off," Vegeta demanded. After Turk bid them goodbye, and shook Goku's hand when he was told who he was, a small ship was given to them and in short order, the four Saiyans returned to Earth. They sighed in collective relief and split up to head home, relieved when they felt the invaders departing from their orbit around the Earth. None of them bothered to search the area anymore, so they did not notice the small group rebels nearby, tailing Trunks and Vegeta.

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**End A/N**: There ya have it, I hope you're happy... it took entirely too long to force myself to update this chapter, I'm sorry for that. I do _NOT_ know when the next chapter will be up! And I'm afraid to say, the story _may _be coming to a close soon, not in the next chapter, but soon. As always, if you spot any mistakes, please let me know! Please R&R!

Shout-Outs:

**BurningPanther**: Thank you for the kind words and the bit of advice. Like I said in the author's note, your suggestion is noted. Also, I'm sorry I had to put you on the spotlight like that!

**Shiva the Sarcastic**: Officially there are four... then there are like five or six if you go non-canon. Relax, I don't plan there to be any more ascensions, I'm sticking to canon lol.

**Alex Garcia:** Favorite ever? Wow, I'm flattered! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Dcp1992**: Start? Lol, glad you like it!

**Fanfiction(dot)net**: LOL! Best review EVER!

**Dude7**: Yeah, sorry about that, I meant to change that but I never got around to it...

**Cloud Ex-SOLDIER**: Glad you like it! I plan a mini spin-off series with the three of them on crazy adventures, keep an eye out for it!

**Xj9**: Thank you! Yes! That's what I had in mind! It always frustrated me that they built Gohan up to be this awesome character, then dumbed him down and put Goku back in the spotlight... and Goku's character was just ruined after DBZ. They were all ruined. So I wrote this with my opinion on how it could have turned out if Gohan remained awesome and the main man, you know? Glad you're with me on this!

**Swoofie**: Ah okay, well I appreciate your input anyway! Maybe if I was writing Gohan from the other "canon" timeline, I would have him relying on others more, but keep in mind Gohan had to rely on himself and had no one to be his hero since he was nine (or so), so naturally, he wouldn't suddenly get that need and would be more inclined to take charge, you know?


End file.
